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Promoting democracy and monitoring elections around the world, the Carter Center Democracy
Program works to give people control over how they are governed:
- Conducting international election monitoring with teams of election
observers
- Strengthening the capacity of civic organizations to participate
in government policy making, and
- Promoting the rule of law.
In promoting democracy, the Democracy Program incorporates a
commitment to the protection and advancement of broad-based human rights values, upon which former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
and Rosalynn Carter founded The Carter Center. To learn more about how the program helps struggling democracies, read a Q&A with Democracy Program
Director David Carroll.
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President
and Mrs. Carter observe the Mozambique elections in December 1999. |
While elections are an essential part of the democratic process,
elections alone are not enough to make a democracy. One free election does not change the political culture of a society overnight.
And election monitoring is only a part of the process of promoting democracy.
Responding fully to the will of the people
and building self-government to ensure citizens continue participating in the political life of their nation requires much
longer-term work. Nonetheless, one of the most profound trends in world history today is the spread of democracy. President and Mrs. Carter observe the Mozambique elections in December
1999.
The Center believes people can improve their lives when they are empowered to exercise control over how they
are governed. The Democracy Program works with other Carter Center programs, such as the Global Development Initiative and
the Conflict Resolution Program, to realize this goal. The involvement of other Center programs creates the comprehensive,
long-term strategic approach needed to help nations build peaceful, just, and economically viable societies.
Promoting Democracy through Election Monitoring
Effective
election monitoring begins long before voters cast their ballots.
The Carter Center requires an invitation from the
country's electoral authorities and a welcome from the major political parties to ensure the Center can play a meaningful
nonpartisan role.
Election observers analyze election laws, assess voter registration processes, voter education efforts,
and the openness of campaigns, focusing on competitiveness, unhindered participation in the election process, and access to
the media.
These assessments begin months in advance. The presence of impartial
election observers reassures voters they can safely and secretly cast their ballots and that vote tabulation will be conducted
without tampering. Thus, election monitoring deters interference or fraud in the voting process.
Monitoring
Elections Around the World
Village Elections in China
China has moved toward open competitive elections at the village level in the last decade. In 1997, the government
invited The Carter Center to help standardize village election processes.
China initiated elections in some 700,000 villages
to help maintain social and political order in the context of unprecedented economic reforms. Through improved electoral procedures,
the Center has helped strengthen confidence in local self-government.

The Democracy Program, in cooperation with the Ministry
of Civil Affairs, has advised on better procedures, trained election officials, and educated voters about their rights under
a new election law.
Building upon these achievements, the Center is working
with the National Peoples Congress to design electoral guidelines for higher levels of government as well. Electoral processes
will be an important part of political reform in China: "democracy with Chinese characteristics." |
The Carter Center has observed 59 elections in 25 countries on
four continents (May 2005 totals). Access list of elections monitored by the Center.
Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone held presidential and parliamentary elections
in May 2002 following the end of a 10-year civil war. The Carter Center was the only U.S. based organization that monitored
the elections, which election observers found were peaceful and relatively well managed. The delegation commended the voters
of Sierra Leone, political party agents, and polling station workers for their impressive commitment to peaceful voting under
very challenging conditions. The Carter Center noted the need for increased transparency in election rules and decisions by
the Election Commission and improved voter registration and voter education process.
Mali: In support of democratic development in Mali and the rest of West Africa, the Center observed both rounds of Mali's
2002 presidential elections. Overall, Carter Center election observers found the elections characterized by a peaceful, tolerant,
and competitive political climate, although both rounds were characterized by widespread procedural irregularities. Perhaps
most importantly, the winning candidate, Amadou Toumani Touré, appears to enjoy legitimacy in the eyes of the Malian electorate
and the international community.
East Timor: Monitoring its third election in East Timor since 1999, The Carter Center commended the new country on its 2002 presidential
election that met international standards for freeness and fairness. The Center monitored the violent 1999 referendum vote
for independence from Indonesia and the 2001 vote for the Constituent Assembly. In its statement, the Center said democratic
development would be needed at all levels of government if East Timor is to succeed as a democratic nation.
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Observers David Pottie and Georgina Chikoko watch a Zambian polling official count ballots. Photo by Victor Nyambe. |
Zambia: The Center lauded the large and peaceful turnout in Zambia's presidential and parliamentary elections in December
2001. The Center's delegation, co-led by former Nigeria Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar, former Benin President Nicéphore
Soglo, and former Tanzania Prime Minister Judge Joseph Warioba, also reported vote-counting procedures sometimes were chaotic
and tabulation of results in constituency centers and at the Electoral Commission was not fully transparent. The governing
party candidate, Levy Mwanawasa, won just 29 percent of the vote and narrowly defeated a divided opposition, which lodged
claims of vote rigging.
Promoting Democracy by Strengthening Civil Society
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A Carter Center-sponsored workshop
on legal empowerment for women in March 2003. Photo by The Carter Center. |
The Center works to strengthen the capabilities of nongovernmental
civic organizations so that citizens have a clear avenue to participate fully in the political process. A politically active
civil society plays a critical role in deepening democratic institutions, but in most emerging democracies these civic organizations
lack full working knowledge of democratic principles and human rights standards.
The Center trains media in the responsibilities of a free press,
facilitates dialogue and reconciliation among competing national groups, and provides useful working tools to improve the
effectiveness of human rights monitors and advocates. Priority is given to supporting the political participation of traditionally
marginalized segments of society, such as women, indigenous peoples, refugees, and youth.
- Following its observation of Zambia's contentious elections in December 2001, the program worked with civil society groups and newly elected national legislators
to improve their working relationships and channels of communication.
- Before East Timor's first presidential election in April 2002 since gaining independence, the Center helped local communities evaluate programs
to improve relations between police and citizens.
- The program worked in Guyana from 2000-2004 to strengthen civil society, thus helping the country overcome conflictive ethnic divisions. With training
from the Center, local civic organizations focusing on women, youth and Amerindians increased their advocacy and participation
in public policy. Read one man's story of working to improve the status of Guyana's youth.
- After the civil war in Liberia ended in 1997, the Democracy Program worked with the government and civil society organizations to help strengthen democratic
institutions. The Center trained human rights monitors and paralegals, held workshops on incorporating human rights principles
into school curricula, and trained media in the roles and responsibilities of a free press.
Promoting Democracy by Strengthening the Rule of Law
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Poll workers count ballots on election day in Sierra Leone (May 2002). Photo by Ashley Barr. |
Sustainable democratic governance depends upon a legal system
that protects people's individual rights and property. The judicial system must enjoy public confidence and be seen to resolve
disputes efficiently and administer justice fairly. Many countries in transition from authoritarian rule are plagued by corrupt
or inefficient judicial systems.
- The program enhanced the expertise of judges, court personnel,
and lawyers in Guyana, a young democracy. Activities with the bar association and legal aid groups informed citizens of their
rights under the law. New court rules and procedures and a new code of ethics were drafted through working groups of concerned
citizens, also a demonstration of the important role of civil society.
Promoting Democracy by Protecting Human Rights
One
of the founding principles of The Carter Center is a commitment to human rights. The Center advocates for stronger international
human rights systems, sends human rights monitors on election observation missions, helps new democracies establish human
rights laws and institutions, and intervenes on behalf of victims of human rights abuses. Under the auspices of the Democracy
Program, the Center's initiatives are supervised by a human rights attorney and are accomplished by staff in each of the Center's
programs.
National institutions and laws protecting human rights are essential to deepening democracy. The Democracy
Program helps emerging democracies incorporate human rights precepts into institutions, such as human rights commissions,
educational systems, and the judiciary. Staff have provided training to police officials, judges and lawyers, the media, and
local nongovernmental organizations and have reported on human rights issues during election observation missions in Nigeria, Indonesia, East Timor, and Sierra Leone.
Strengthening the international human rights system also contributes to democratic transitions around the world by
setting and enforcing standards for governments' behavior toward individuals and groups. For example, the Center held a series
of four consultations with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to define the office's mandate
and to improve coordination among various parts of the United Nations' human rights program, such as U.N. human rights offices
and human rights investigators like special rapporteurs.
Refer to Activities by Country to learn where else the Center is waging peace and building
hope. David Carroll is director of the Democracy Program.
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