By-elections are of great importance to a representative and credible democracy as seats need to be filled to ensure the legitimacy and function of Myanmar’s various parliaments. On 3 November 2018, Myanmar held by-elections to fill the 12 vacant seats of three houses and levels (Upper House, Lower House, and State and Region Parliaments), plus the vacant position of the Shan Ethnic Affairs Representative in Mandalay.
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Relations between the media and electoral authorities can be strained or uneasy, and the result of such strained relations can be misinformation or missed opportunities. Since public confidence (and ultimately acceptance of the electoral results) is at stake, there can be no doubt of the importance for electoral management bodies (EMBs) to building solid working relations with the media to ensure that the electorate is well-informed about the electoral processes and developments.
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.
Ensuring the effective implementation of political finance regulations and regularly updating them to appropriately address new risk areas are the keys to successful anti-corruption efforts. In order to influence the global policy debate on money in politics, International IDEA has recently participated in two major international anti-corruption events; the 18th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) and the 18th EPAC/EACN Annual Professional Conference.
Electoral management bodies (EMBs) in Africa generally have broad constitutional mandates to oversee electoral processes and the management of elections.
However, in many cases, the establishment of EMBs has not been matched by sufficient or timely commitment of resources needed for the fulfilment of their mandates. The topic of financing elections has therefore become a pressing issue among African election practitioners.
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.
Mongolian People’s Party, Democratic Party, Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, Civil Will Party and National Labour Party recently all came together at a training event to face common challenges: integrity and inclusivity in political party finance. The event allowed unprecedented dialogue on these issues to emerge.
Centre-left Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) will form the third elected government of Bhutan following Lotay Tshering’s win in the 18 October parliamentary election. With the ruling People’s Democratic Party eliminated in the first of the two rounds of the election, the country voted between DNT and the Druk Phunsum Tshogpa (DPT), which governed between 2008-2013.
The key findings from the most recent update to the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices data are as follows.
In November 2017 International IDEA launched the first edition of a new biennial report, The Global State of Democracy.
The report provided evidence-based analysis and data on the global and regional state of democracy. It also contributed to the public debate on democracy, informed policy interventions and examined problem-solving approaches to the challenges facing democracies worldwide.
The following press information has been issued by International IDEA's Council of Member States:
The International IDEA Member States met in an extraordinary session on August, 24th and September,14th to follow up on the external audit as mandated by the Council on December 6th of last year. The outcome of the KPMG audit was shared with the International IDEA Member States, Management and Staff.
El 11 y 12 de octubre, en la ciudad de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, tuvo lugar la II Conferencia de la Asociación de Magistradas Electorales de las Américas (AMEA),con la participación de trece países de la región, organizado por el Órgano Electoral Plurinacional(OEP) de Bolivia.
This news article is available in English.
Bolivia assumes the presidency of the AMEB and promotes the debate on the Parity and Intercultural Democracy.
This issue of Constitutional INSIGHTS examines the choice between making a new constitution and amending an existing constitution to achieve substantial constitutional change.
Federalism or devolution involves the organization of public power so that government, on at least two levels, is responsive and accountable to the people that it serves.
More than 25 countries around the world operate as a federation of some kind. Many more devolve power in other ways, either across the country or in particular regions with special autonomy.
This issue of Constitutional INSIGHTS deals with the questions presented by constitutional or legal arrangements that treat one region of a state differently from others.
Two secretarial officers from the Bhutanese Parliament underwent a vigorous two-week Fellowship Programme from 20-31 August 2018 at the state parliament of Tasmania, Australia. The Fellowship Programme was part of regular fellowship programme facilitated by International IDEA since 2014 as part of strengthening institutional capacity of the Parliament of Bhutan.
The Second Annual Summer School for Young Leaders from African Political Parties took place in Kigali, Rwanda, on 6–8 June 2018. The overall theme was ‘Youth participation in political processes: emerging trends of the negative aspects of money in politics’.
More than 30 students from Uppsala University visited International IDEA HQ on 9 October 2018 as part of their undergraduate course in ‘Development Policy in Practice.’ During their visit, the Electoral Processes Team organized a three-hour workshop focusing on the intersection between elections and development—and how this plays out in practice.
One of the most striking findings of International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy Indices is that the perceived level of corruption has not changed significantly across the world in the last ten years. In particular, the regional score of Eastern and post-Soviet Europe continues to remain below the global and European averages.