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International IDEA in partnership with the Government of Indonesia c.q. the Ministry of State Secretariat and the Non-Aligned Movement Centre for South-South Technical Cooperation, will host the International Workshop on Electoral Efficiency and Sustainability. It will take place in Bandung, Indonesia from 21 to 24 October 2025. 

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), under the EU-funded Women and Youth Democratic Engagement (WYDE) Women’s Leadership Initiative, is organizing on the 10-11 September, a two-day South Asia Regional Dialogue in Kathmandu, Nepal, focused on advancing transformative gender social norms to enhance the participation and representation of women and youth in leadership and decision-making. 

The need for physical distancing during this COVID-19 pandemic has raised the need for innovative campaign methods to be developed by election contestants because conventional campaign methods such as rallies, public meetings, etc. are prohibited in some jurisdictions. Distant and online election campaigning may be seen as restrictive to both contestants and voters alike due to physical and technological barriers that appear. To what degree is this true?

This International Day of Democracy, as International IDEA releases its Global State of Democracy report, Democracy on the Move

IDEA Internacional está alarmada por el deterioro de la situación de seguridad en Nepal y subraya la urgente necesidad de restablecer inmediatamente el estado de derecho, con pleno respeto a la seguridad de los civiles y la protección de sus derechos fundamentales.

International IDEA is alarmed by the deterioration of the security situation in Nepal and stresses the urgent need for the immediate restoration of law and order, with full respect for the safety of civilians and the protection of their fundamental rights.

In many parts of the world, Indigenous Peoples maintain a profound relationship with their lands—a connection that often has deeply political, social, cultural, spiritual, and religious dimensions. Yet all too often this relationship is undermined (or even disregarded) by legal and political systems that fail to recognize Indigenous rights.

This discussion paper is a result of the work performed at the Democracy in South Asia Outlook Forum in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 28–30 November 2024, convened by International IDEA and the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). The forum brought together a multidisciplinary group of experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

This case study explores the complexities surrounding the enfranchisement of Nepal’s internal and international migrant population. Despite its large migration flows—particularly those related to its temporary workers—Nepal’s
migrants continue to be denied their right to vote.

Natural resources feature prominently in many political and economic settlement processes after conflict. When these processes include constitutional reform, it may be expected that mechanisms for natural resource governance would be included in the new constitutional framework, but often this is not the case.

Nepal became a federal democratic republic following the Interim Constitution drafted in 2007, after a decade-long power struggle between the monarchy, political parties and the Maoist insurgents. Nepal's Election Commission has decentralized carrying out its election activities, with each district and province election office having the power to manage resources for the election in its respective area.

The Summit for Democracy is an initiative headed by the United States Government to discuss how to advance the Summit’s three broad themes: strengthening democracy and defending against authoritarianism; addressing and fighting corruption; and advancing respect for human rights.

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.

International IDEA’s Annual Review of Constitution-Building series provides a retrospective account of constitutional transitions around the world, the issues that drive them, and their implications for national and international politics.

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.