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The constitutional and political reforms undertaken prior to the 2010 general election paved the way for the people of the Kingdom of Tonga to elect more representative governments that are accountable to the electorate.

International IDEA is hosting its first workshop in Melanesia this week on democracy assessments, measurements and data validation. The workshop focuses on using International IDEA’s State of Democracy (SoD) assessment methodology in the Melanesian countries of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

International IDEA is pleased to announce that Mongolia will take up the chairmanship of the organization’s Council of Member States in 2016, taking over from Switzerland.

International IDEA’s Secretary-General Yves Leterme made the announcement as he visited Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, this week to take part in celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the first free, democratic elections in the country. 

In the interview series Conversations on Democracy, International IDEA talks with people committed to democracy. Today, Mr Andrew Ellis, Acting Director of International IDEA’s Asia and The Pacific Programme, shares his views and experiences.

In line with its continuing support of knowledge creation and its widespread dissemination among the Bhutanese people through capacity development of key democratic organisations, International IDEA supported the training of three officials who are team of programmers from the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB).

Ahead of the national elections this fall the National Institute for Strategic Studies (NISS) and the UNDP in Kyrgyzstan have launched a project whereby International IDEA’s Electoral Risk Management tool will be utilized to build the capacity of national stakeholders to organize peaceful and credible elections.

In June, International IDEA provided training for staff UNDP and the NISS, a government formed think-tank conducting research for the prime minister’s office.

Wrapping up a two-day ASEAN workshop on election observation held in Manila, the Philippines Commission on Elections released a statement highlighting the importance for countries in the region to use independent third-party observers as a way to assure the credibility of elections and to share experiences of election observation. “Election observation missions do not just offer insight into politics after all,” said COMELEC Chairman Andres Bautista.

“Myanmar is the only country where International IDEA operates in two offices, in two different cities. They are located 400km from each other: one is in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar, and the other one in the nation’s new capital Nay Pyi Taw, at the Union Election Commission (UEC) building.

Our team has grown to 13 staff members (and counting), of which four are permanently based in Nay Pyi Taw. Our team includes a variety of experts, who share their technical expertise.

This report outlines some of the major disagreements that have arisen during the constitution-building process in Nepal, at times severely threatening the peace process.

It also shows that bringing together opposing groups and finding common ground among them is possible.

International IDEA and the Parliamentary Centre of Canada jointly implement a project that supports the democratic developments in Bhutan through capacity building of members of the parliament and its staff.

On 13 May, the National Election Commission of Korea hosted the 1^stSeoul International Forum on Elections where Andrew Ellis, Interim International IDEA Director for Asia and the Pacific, made a presentation on ‘Making International Aid to Elections Effective’. Andrew talked about aid and democracy, describing its early approach in the 1990s as technocratic.

This is the 2nd article in a series, where International IDEA illustrates how the Electoral Risk Management Tool  is piloted and tested, by four separate organizations, in four different parts of the world.

On 18 January 2015, International IDEA Secretary-General Leterme presented the first edition of the ‘English-Myanmar Glossary of Democratic Terms’ to experts who contributed to it at International IDEA’s Myanmar office.

Citizenship is critical to exercise and enjoy the rights and privileges granted by the state. Nepal is one of 27 countries in the world (including Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Sudan) whose laws and/or practices prevent women from passing citizenship rights to their children.

The Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) in collaboration with Sherubtse College under the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) has developed a new tool with assistance from International IDEA, primarily focusing on developing capacity for delivery of civic and electoral education and trainings in Bhutan. The E-Introduction to Electoral System and Democracy of Bhutan (E-IESDB), was developed under a Norwegian-funded project titled “Bhutan Electoral Training and Resou

Many people in Nepal see federalism as a way to empower communities and regions marginalised by the centralization of power, and to acknowledge and further promote the country’s religious, linguistic and ethnic diversity.

Understanding federalism and discussing its key issues and options are at the core of the current constitution making debate.

Electoral management bodies (EMBs) need to become more professional if they are to retain the trust of voters.

This Handbook was developed for electoral administrators and those involved in reforming EMBs. It provides comparative experience of and best practices on EMB structures and funding models, as well as means for evaluating performance.

On 27 November 2014, citizens of the Kingdom of Tonga went to the polls. This is the second election since amendments were made to the Constitution of 1875 and paved way for the Tongan people to choose their government, rather than the Monarch. Due to reforms the Monarch has ceded most of its executive powers to the Cabinet of Ministers. The electoral system introduced in the 2010 election has two main components.