In mid-December 2008, the Second Vice President of the Legislation and Oversight Commission (CLF) – the contact between the legislative body and international contacts and supporters – invited the Carter Center to serve as one of the international observers to monitor the process of selection, evaluation, appeal and appointment for the members of the temporary Council on Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS).
Upon the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, The Carter Center observed the country's May 15, 2005, elections for the national and regional parliaments. The May elections marked an historic event in the country, as Ethiopia witnessed its first genuinely competitive campaign period with multiple parties fielding strong candidates. Unfortunately, what began with a comparatively open period of campaigning and an orderly voting process on election day was followed by flawed counting and tabulation processes in many areas; repeated incidents of serious postelection violence, including the killing of many dozens of people during electoral protests; a significant delay in finalizing election results; and an ineffective complaints review and investigation processes. In spite of the positive pre-election developments, therefore, The Carter Center concludes that the 2005 electoral process did not fulfill Ethiopia's obligations to ensure the exercise of political rights and freedoms necessary for genuinely democratic elections.
Topic:
Political Violence, Democratization, and Governance
The April 9, 2009, legislative elections in Indonesia marked the beginning of the third set of national elections since a return to democratic rule following the end of the New Order of former President Soeharto and the first based on an open-list system. This was the world's largest centrally administered, single-day election, with more than 171 million names on the voter register and approximately 519,000 polling stations. Thirty-eight political parties contested nearly 19,000 seats in national, provincial, and district assemblies, while an additional six local parties competed for seats in Aceh province.
Carter Center election observers witnessed a historic vote in Nepal on April 10 creating a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution for the country that will likely abolish the 240-year-old monarchy.
At The Carter Center, we know sustainable, positive change is not often achieved in the short term. But our commitments to the people we help have no expiration date, nor do they lessen as situations evolve or worsen.
The Carter Center led a small electoral observation mission for Ecuador's constitutional referendum on Sept. 28, 2008, to help promote a transparent and fair electoral process and accompany the country as it continues its political-institutional transformation. One of the major milestones in the process was the convening of the national constituent assembly (CA), which held session between November 2007 and July 2008. The CA's efforts culminated in the approval of a draft constitution, which was also approved by 63.93 percent of Ecuador voters during the Sept. 28, 2008, referendum.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, and International Organization
As described in the Transitional Regime of the Constitution approved by referendum on September 28, 2008, the Constituent Assembly held its final session (the 98th) in order to appoint the members of the Legislation and Oversight Commission, as well as the members of the temporary electoral authorities that together form the Electoral Branch: the National Electoral Council (NEC) and the Litigious Electoral Tribunal (LET). For the first time in Ecuador's modern history, the organization and evaluation of its elections have been left to two autonomous agencies: the NEC will be in charge of organizing and executing electoral processes and the LET will have jurisdictional authority on electoral matters. This report provides an account of the process of selecting and naming the temporary representatives of these two agencies. The Carter Center's principal motivation in writing this report is to make a contribution to informing national and international audiences about the process of institutional transformation taking place in Ecuador. Although they are temporary, the new electoral authorities have an important and specific purpose in organizing and judging the fairness of the next general election scheduled for April of 2009.
The growing use of dialogue processes to address emerging crises worldwide and to find consensus among stakeholders on a particular complex economic, social or political issue has been accompanied by the need and demand for better evaluation methodologies to: 1. Measure the impact of dialogue interventions (intended and unintended consequences), 2. Better understand when and how dialogues should be used and how they can be designed and conducted for maximum impact, 3. Convince external and internal actors to participate in, or support such intervention, and 4. Help build the field of dialogue by identifying good practices, systematizing lessons learned and finding common elements for comparative studies.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Conflict Prevention, International Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, and Political Theory
We, over 125 members of the global access to information community from 40 countries, representing governments, civil society organizations, international bodies and financial institutions, donor agencies and foundations, private sector companies, media outlets and scholars, gathered in Atlanta, Georgia from February 27-29, 2008, under the auspices of the Carter Center and hereby adopt the following Declaration and Plan of Action to advance the passage, implementation, enforcement, and exercise of the right of access to information:
Topic:
Civil Society, Intelligence, Treaties and Agreements, and Intellectual Property/Copyright
Nepal's constituent assembly (CA) election is an important milestone on the country's path to permanent peace and prosperity. The Nepali people have demonstrated their dedication to ending the decade-long conflict and their interest in a new and inclusive leadership that will tackle the difficult issues involved in drafting a new constitution and restructuring the Nepali state, and will work to address the critical need for poverty alleviation and widespread development in Nepal.