La Oficina Electoral de Fiji (OFE) y el Instituto Internacional para la Democracia y Asistencia Electoral (IDEA Internacional) firmaron conjuntamente un Memorando de Entendimiento (MoU) en Canberra, Australia y Suva, Fiji, el jueves 25 de mayo de 2023 que restablece los lazos entre las organizaciones.
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In a bid to deepen relationships across the Asia-Pacific region, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance’s (International IDEA) Secretary-General Dr Kevin Casas-Zamora met with multiple political, electoral and stakeholder groups in Australia and India during his October 2022 mission to the regional headquarters in Canberra.
International IDEA, with the support from the European Commission, has been contributing to increasing effective evidence-based and coordinated support for democracy across the world through the Supporting Team Europe Democracy (STED) project. Within this project, the Summit for Democracy (S4D) emerged as a unique opportunity to place democracy at the center of the global agenda.
At home in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia lives alongside some of the world's most populous and diverse democracies. As we all emerge from two years of acute COVID-19 restrictions, some things look a little different in our neighbourhood.
Successive Australian governments, for many years now, have not had an explicit policy for fostering and promoting democracy. One is needed, now more than ever.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the institutional position of International IDEA, its Board of Advisers or its Council of Member States.
The 22 years old Saraswati Nepali is the mom of two kids and lives approximately five hours' drive (and five hours walk) away from the headquarter of Karnali Province, Surkhet—a place that paid the heaviest of prices in the 10 year-long armed conflict from 1996-2006. Her first son is eight years old, and her second son is four and half years old, almost as old as her term of office as a ward member in Shiwalaya Rural Municipality (RM) of Karnali Province.
In view of ongoing and recent contestations between the president and prime minister, and president and legislature in Tunisia and in Sri Lanka, International IDEA’s Constitution-Building Programme organised a webinar on the ‘Value and Perils of Semi-Presidentialism in Transitional Contexts’ on 2 August 2021.
Bidi Yolkey Rai, 28, struggles to conduct an online session on the importance of local government committees that deal with Covid-19, the climate impact on agriculture, or road construction. “मलाई सुनि राख्नु भएको छ?” (“Can you hear me?”) She asks from time to time.
“Press the mic there...no no, on your left…”
"Oh, I was speaking all this all alone?” Laughter.
"Would you please mute your mic?”
“I should first know where the mic is!” Laughter.
“Am I audible?”
“Yes, yes, since the time you were scolding someone over the phone…” More laughter.
This post looks at emergency law responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in conflict-affected states in transition. While some type of emergency response to Covid-19 has been used in most states, we suggest that conflict ‘fault lines’ can mean that emergency law responses have a capacity to undermine transitions.
Three local government mentors deployed in Rapti Rural Municipality, Deukhuri-3, Dang in Nepal interviewed a local female elected representative (ER) for International Women's Day 2021.
● Would you mind telling us about your childhood and education?
Indira Oli is the vice-chair of Sanibheri Rural Municipality, West Rukum. Rukum is one of the places of origin of the decade-long civil war (1996-2006) in Nepal.
As a student union representative, she advocated for gender equality in the sector of education and politics. Moreover, the aim to provide equal rights for all economic classes during the civil war with the Maoist group motivated her to run for the elections and to be a part of politics as a women representative.
The Coherence Programme, a co-creation of Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA), Department for International Development (DFID, now Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office or FCDO), and International IDEA has recently launched its mentoring support to three more local governments in Lumbini Province of Nepal in partnership with Nitishala Nepal
Sweden, represented by Mr Robert Rydberg, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador Niklas Kebbon, Head of Department for International Law, Human Rights and Treaty Law, handed over the Chairship of International IDEA to the Australian Ambassador to Sweden, Mr Bernard Philip, at the Council of Member States meeting held on 1 December 2020.
In 2015, the new Constitution of Nepal established a federal system of governance consisting of three spheres of governments —Federal, Provincial (Pradesh, 7) and Local (Palika, 753)— that exercise the state powers within the ambit of the Constitution and other laws.
The Queensland (QLD) state election on Saturday 31 October 2020 was remarkable on several fronts. It was the first election in the state and Australia. The two leading candidates from the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Liberal-National Coalition (LNP) were females, Annastacia Palaszczuk and Deb Frecklington, respectively. In this election, surveys also predicted a close contest among the main parties. But the results proved polls wrong and granted Palaszczuk a third consecutive term.
Pilot project carves out space for deliberative local governance
In partnership with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), International IDEA’s Coherence Programme in Nepal develops an animated video, titled "Same Budget, Two Stories," on local governance, more specifically, planning and budgeting. The video visualizes two different uses of the same annual budget.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this commentary are those of the staff member. This commentary is independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the institutional position of International IDEA, its Board of Advisers or its Council of Member States.
Nepal held local elections in 2017 for the first time in almost 20 years – a critical step set out in the 2015 Nepalese constitution for the implementation of the federal system. For the first time in Nepal, a quota system ensured seats for over 40% women and representation of marginalised communities in the 753 local governments of Nepal. In many cases, however, representation tended to remain cosmetic because of deep-