A pioneer in the field of election observation, The Carter Center has observed over 100 elections in 39 countries and continues to forge methods and tools that lead the field.
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The year 2017 was a historic one for Liberia. “For the first time in most of their lives, Liberians saw power transfer from one democratically elected president to another,” said Jordan Ryan, vice president of the Carter Center’s peace programs. “This is something that hasn’t happened in Liberia since the 1940s. Other presidents were forced from power, died in office, or murdered in coups.
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On Aug. 8, the Kenyan people stood for hours in long lines to cast their votes in presidential, parliamentary, and local races.
Despite their patience and determination, the underlying mood was tense.
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Every day in the weeks leading up to Liberia’s Oct. 10 election, scores of women wearing white t-shirts and blue-and-white skirts gathered in an open-air tent set up in a field in the capital city of Monrovia.
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When Kenyans go to the polls Aug. 8 to choose their next president, election observers expect tensions to be running high. The race is a virtual repeat of the 2013 contest, again pitting challenger Raila Odinga against Uhuru Kenyatta, who won the last round by the narrowest of margins.
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Members of the League of Women Voters of Ohio learn about election observation from Carter Center staff.
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As the Democratic Republic of Congo edges toward its next national election — slated for November, though the timing is in question — one thing is clear: The nation’s young people will play an important role.
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Jordan Ryan, vice president for peace programs, may be relatively new to The Carter Center, but his connection to President and Mrs. Carter dates back to the ’70s.
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ELMO (short for Election Monitoring) is a Carter Center created electronic data collection and analysis system. Since its introduction in 2011, ELMO has gradually rendered paper checklists obsolete. Equipped with ELMO, observers can submit their checklist data — with more detail than ever before — to headquarters in real time using touchscreen tablets or smartphones. Computers continuously aggregate the data for staff to analyze.
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Many times, the best way to learn something is by doing it. That's why Cyrille Ebotoko and Marie Danielle Luyoyo Pwenika left their homes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in November to serve as Carter Center short-term observers in Tunisia's presidential elections.
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It's election day in Georgetown, Guyana, and taxi driver Kirk Embrack can't stop smiling. "I'm always an optimist," he says. "I would like to see Guyana be back to the days of old, when it was the breadbasket of the Caribbean."
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For five years, Christophe Kabwita has been trying to reclaim what is rightfully his while also trying to keep his family sheltered, fed, and healthy.
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The Carter Center launched its fourth election observation mission in Guyana at an important time in the country's history.
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The chanting started soon after Jennie Lincoln and her partner entered the school in the Chiriqui province in Panama on May 7, 1989.
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Twenty-six years ago, in May 1989, The Carter Center sent its first-ever team of election observers to Panama, where their work exposed General Manuel Noriega's scheme to falsify tally sheets to swing the elections in favor of his handpicked candidate. It established The Carter Center as a leader in what was then the still relatively new field of election observation.
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When student protesters took to the streets in Tunisia at the beginning of the Arab Spring, 55-year-old Kalthoum Kannou was by their side.
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On Sunday, Nov. 23, Tunisians will do something they've never done before: go to the polls to elect the president of their choice in a genuine democratic election.
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Mahendra Gwacha stood with pride as he listened to his supervisor's instructions at the Bagh Bhairab Temple in Kirtipur, Nepal, and then he and his fellow temporary police officers, or myadi prahari, got to work carrying tables and chairs from a nearby elementary school to transform the 900-year-old holy site to a polling place for the next day's constituent assembly election.
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A former political prisoner, Dr. Siwakoti now is one of Nepal's most prominent human rights advocates. His passion for human rights stems from his personal knowledge of what happens when a country lacks democracy and an open society.
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After casting her ballot this morning in Bhaktapur, 33-year-old Sangita Shrestha felt joy, but the feeling was tempered by a stern message she had for those who will be elected to Nepal's new constituent assembly, "Do your job properly and draft a new constitution as soon as possible."
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Voter turnout was high as Nepalis defied strikes and scattered violence leading up to Nepal's Nov. 19 constituent assembly election. The Carter Center, which has maintained a team of election observers in Nepal since 2007, deployed 66 observers from 31 countries to provide an independent and impartial assessment of this election process and ensure voting was transparent, credible, and fair.
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In 2008, Audrey Kasandi remembers traveling to school in a convoy escorted by armed police for safety, and seeing burned down shells of houses and tent villages stretched across fields full of internally displaced people in Kenya's Rift Valley as the country recoiled from post-election violence. Yet when opportunity arose to serve as deputy presiding officer of a polling station in March 2013, she jumped at the chance despite her fears.
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Carter Center election observers in Kenya reported longs lines outside many polling stations on March 4, some nearly a kilometer long, and voters waited in lines for up to six hours or more.
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“In all of these countries, the path to democracy is full of challenges,” said Hrair Balian, director of the Conflict Resolution Program at the Center. “The successful outcome will depend on the level of inclusiveness and tolerance of the new orders being created.”
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While other voters squeezed into polling stations and stood for hours in the Sierra Leone heat to cast ballots in the country's Nov. 17 general election, John Mussa moved straight to the head of the line. One advantage to having only one arm, he said, "is you don't have to wait in the queue to vote."
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The Nov. 17, 2012, presidential and parliamentary elections were the first self-administered elections to be conducted in Sierra Leone since the end of the civil war in 2002, representing an important test for the country's democratic consolidation.
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In June, Egyptians chose the first democratically elected president in the country's history, and despite the challenging circumstances of the process, many voters still felt the moment's importance.
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The Carter Center has deployed 22 international election witnesses to Egypt's upcoming May 23-24 presidential elections and will send a larger delegation of 80 witnesses from over 35 nations several days before the election, led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Many of the Center's witnesses have been with The Carter Center in Egypt since November 2011 and have witnessed the lower and upper house parliamentary elections too.
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The Carter Center's peace programs have retained a presence in South Sudan after observing the 2011 referendum on independence in the hopes of contributing to a lasting peace and the establishment of strong democratic foundations.
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During 2012, The Carter Center celebrates three decades of waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope. This is the first in a series of anniversary features highlighting the Center's global impact since its founding.
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Read firsthand accounts from two of the Center's witnesses in Egypt - Nedra Cherif and Matt Hall - who were deployed to Alexandria and Fayoum governorates during the first round of voting.
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On Oct. 23, Haythem, 28, wrapped himself in a Tunisian flag, stood for four hours in a line that spanned as far as the eye could see on a street in downtown Tunis, and cast a vote for the first time in his life.
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Long lines of Tunisians waited for hours to vote on Sunday to choose 217 members of a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution – many casting a ballot for the first time in their lives – in the country's first open and competitive election in decades.
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The Carter Center will observe the Oct. 23 vote in Tunisia - the first Arab Spring country to hold elections - for a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution. A selection of questions submitted online are answered below by Carter Center observers on the ground in Tunisia.
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Presidential and legislative elections in Liberia on Oct. 11 will be a critical test for the country's transition from war to democratic and constitutional government. A Carter Center delegation will observe those elections, led by His Excellency General Dr. Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria's former head of state.
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As the sun rose across Juba on Jan. 9, Lulogo Market area resident Ibrahim, 33, had already waited in line for hours to be among the first to vote in Southern Sudan's historic referendum on self-determination. He clutched a small radio with antenna pointed toward the sky to hear news fragments from BBC and local stations about the referendum.
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Carter Center observers witnessed the birth of what is expected to be the world's newest nation, following Southern Sudan's Jan. 9-15 referendum on self-determination, with an overwhelming majority--a reported 98.9 percent--voting for secession from Sudan.
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Quietly recalling the memory of people jumping from stadium walls to save their lives, and others falling like flies from the gunfire of soldiers, Bademba Diallo remembers thinking in the chaos of that afternoon: "you only die once."
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For the past two years, Carter Center observers have traveled around the country, assessing progress and reporting their findings as Nepal has undergone major transformation. Within the last five years, the Asian country has gone from monarchy to electing a constituent assembly charged with drafting a constitution.
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Carter Center long-term observers in Sudan, who have been deployed since August 2009, will soon be joined by a full delegation to observe the country's April elections. In teams of two, long-term observers have assessed pre-election developments, including voter registration in December.
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The Carter Center, long at the forefront of the election observation field, is working with students at Georgia Tech University to take the field forward again – using smartphone technology to streamline the observation process and compile the findings of observers in a fast, efficient, and transparent way.
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Merekaje Lorna can't wait to vote. A domestic election observer trained by The Carter Center in Sudan, she believes she and other young Sudanese have a responsibility to contribute to credible elections for the sake of the next generation, and as her country approaches its first multi-party elections in 24 years, she looks forward to being able to choose her leaders.
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As the only foreign organization monitoring Bolivia's voter registration process, Carter Center long-term observers are witnessing a historic convergence of technology with indigenous cultures in one of South America's most diverse countries.
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Carter Center Bolivia Field Office Director Nicolás Fernández Bravo talks about the Center's findings on election day and the challenges ahead for Bolivia
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Marcelo Varela, associate director of the Carter Center's Americas Program, talks about election day in Bolivia.
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Listen to Carter Center observers Daniel Barnes and Angela Lederach talk about the reception they have received so far as election observers in Bolivia.
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Carter Center observers Daniel Barnes and Angela Lederach deployed this morning to Cochabamba, a city that has grown immensely in recent years as people have immigrated from rural areas to find employment.
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Marcelo Varela, associate director of the Carter Center's Americas Program, talks about the unique role of the Center's mission to observe Bolivia's elections on Sunday, Dec. 6.
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Today, on the last official day of campaigning before Sunday's elections, rallies were held throughout Bolivia.
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Carter Center observers are gathering in La Paz, Bolivia, to be briefed ahead of their deployment to observe Sunday's presidential and legislative elections. Election results will determine who will implement and enforce the new constitution, approved by referendum in January 2009 Learn More
As the only foreign organization monitoring Bolivia's voter registration process, Carter Center long-term observers are witnessing a historic convergence of technology with indigenous cultures in one of South America's most diverse countries.
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From the roof of his family's home in East Jerusalem within the walls of the Old City, Raed Sa'id points to the golden Dome of The Rock, which is glowing in the late-afternoon sun.
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Lama Naja represents hope for Lebanon's political future. A politically independent young person in a country full of strong political passions and fierce party loyalties, she instead voted on June 7 for the people she thought may keep their campaign promises.
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Election Day in Lebanon: Carter Center Observers Monitor Polling Sites
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For the past week and a half (and for weeks before I arrived), the Carter Center office for the elections was a scene of constant intense activity at all hours of a day. Now the field staff has returned to their regular office outside the hotel, and Atlanta-based staff are flying home or to another field project.
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Lebanon held successful parliamentary elections on June 7, 2009, the results of which were accepted peacefully by both sides. The Carter Center deployed 60 observers from 23 countries to assess voting, counting, and tabulation processes, led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Prime Minister of Yemen Abdul-Kareem al–Eryani.
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2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections - Deborah Hakes Blogs From Carter Center Election Observation Mission
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2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections - Deborah Hakes Blogs
From Carter Center Election Observation Mission
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Lebanon Parliamentary Elections 2009- Deborah Hakes Blogs From Carter Center Election Observation Mission
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It is the eve of Lebanon's parliamentary elections and things seem quiet. Our observers were deployed yesterday, and they continue regular check-in calls to let us know that they are safe.
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Today, I headed south to Lebanon's border with Hrair Balian, the director of the Conflict Resolution Program at The Carter Center, to be briefed by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and to see what the pre-election environment was like there.
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2009 Lebanon Parliamentary Elections - Deborah Hakes Blogs From Carter Center Election Observation Mission
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Join the Carter Center's Deborah Hakes, in Lebanon with the multinational Carter Center delegation, as she blogs daily about the sights and sounds "on the ground" and the importance of these elections for the country and region.
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I've only been in Beirut, Lebanon, for 24 hours, but I can already tell that the parliamentary elections to be held this coming Sunday are going to be a fascinating process, and I am thrilled to be a part of it. The world is watching what happens here, and I will get to see it firsthand. I'll do my best to share what I see with you.
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A multinational Carter Center delegation will observe Lebanon's June 7 parliamentary elections, monitoring polling sites throughout the country's 25 qadas (districts). Learn More
With accreditation from Lebanon's Ministry of the Interior and Municipalities, The Carter Center dispatched six long-term observers to Lebanon in March to monitor the electoral process leading to parliamentary elections on June 7, 2009.
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Marwa Alkhairo is a long-term observer in the Carter Center's election observation mission in Lebanon. This is her first election mission. She graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service with a master's degree in Arab studies in 2008 and certificate in refugee and humanitarian studies. She has had expansive experience in international NGOs, research institutes, film, and advocacy work as related to issues in the Arab world.
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Long-term election observers Whitney Haring-Smith and Eunsook Jung have been deployed in Aceh since March 2009 as part of the Carter Center's mission to observe Indonesia's April 9, 2009 parliamentary elections.
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More than 50 Carter Center observers witnessed Ghana's Dec. 7 elections, the results of which will determine the country's next president and parliament.
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Fifty–seven Carter Center observers witnessed Ghana's Dec. 7, 2008, presidential and parliamentary elections. Overall, the Center’s observers visited more than 300 polling stations on election day, witnessing the opening, voting, and closing of voting across the country.
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A Chinese delegation hosted by The Carter Center is studying today's U.S. election in the San Francisco and Washington, D.C., areas to learn more about election procedures and reduce misperceptions by the Chinese of the American democratic system.
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The Carter Center and the African Union (AU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on July 29, 2008, at the AU Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The MOU will enable the Center to work closely with the AU in areas such as election monitoring, human rights, and strengthening democracies. Carter Center Vice-President for Peace Programs John Stremlau signed on behalf of The Carter Center while Department of Political Affairs Commissioner Julie Joiner signed on behalf of AU Commission Chairperson H.E. Jean Ping.
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Roger Bryant is a long-term observer in the Carter Center's election observation mission in Lebanon. After a career in the British Navy, Roger worked with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina for a number of years before becoming involved in election work abroad as administrator and then as a long-term observer. Roger was a member of the Carter Center's observation mission to Nepal in 2007-8.
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The Carter Center’s international election observation delegation to Nepal’s April 10, 2008, elections, led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, and Dr. Surakiart Sathirathai, former deputy prime minister of Thailand, included 62 observers from more than 20 nations.
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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.
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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter led the Carter Center's international election observation delegation to Nepal's historic constituent assembly elections, co-led by Dr. Surakiart Sathirathai, former deputy prime minister of Thailand.
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In 2007, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter wrote "Beyond the White House," about his post-presidency work with The Carter Center. In it, he reflected on a number of election observation missions, including the Center's first to Guyana, in 1992. An excerpt from the book, published by Simon and Schuster, is reprinted here.
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Nepal has undergone tremendous changes in the past year. A 2006 peace agreement ended a decade of fighting between government forces and the Maoists, and the country's king gave up all power other than his ceremonial status.
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The Carter Center observed Nepal’s constituent assembly elections, which were delayed from the scheduled Nov. 22, 2007, date. The Center’s long-term observers (LTOs) have been deployed throughout the country since March 2007. Currently the only international observation mission in Nepal, the Center’s well–established reputation for professional and impartial observation enables it to gather a wide range of information from diverse actors.
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Jason Katz is a long-term observer (LTO) for the Carter Center's election observation mission in Nepal. Katz previously worked at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington, D.C., and served as an election monitor during both rounds of elections in Peru in 2001.
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Stefanie Gross was a long-term observer (LTO) for the Carter Center's election observation mission in Nepal from March-December 2007, and wrote her reflections during this time. Originally from Germany, Stefanie completed her undergraduate degree in political studies and her postgraduate degree in conflict resolution in the United Kingdom before interning at The Carter Center in 2006.
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President Chávez announced that he would deepen the Bolivarian Revolution and establish "21st century socialism." He draws on Simón Bolívar's 19th century ideas of South American integration, and on a new approach to socialism based on a mixed economy with majority state control, distribution of oil revenues, worker participation in businesses, and greater popular participation in political decision-making.
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Final report of the Carter Center's election observation team on the 2006 Nicaragua elections. Held November 5, 2006, this was the fourth national election in Nicaragua observed by The Carter Center since 1990.
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When Liberia's first female president won in 2005, her opponent charged that the election results were tainted. But Carter Center Democracy Program Director David Carroll knew otherwise.> Learn More
The Carter Center deployed a 62-member delegation to observe Nicaragua’s 2006 election. Carter Center observers David Evans and Sandra Flores, a French citizen, were based in Rio San Juan, which shares its river and border with Costa Rica. They arrived in the region via small plane on a muddy landing strip.
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Kinshasa....A 45-member international Carter Center delegation led by former Prime Minister of Canada Joe Clark observed the Democratic Republic of the Congo's presidential runoff elections Oct. 29. Carter Center Peace Programs Associate Executive Director John Stremlau was co-leader of the delegation.
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Dr. John Stremlau views the recent elections held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as both triumphant and tragic. "It was quite moving to see the Congolese people turn out to vote," he said. "At the same time," he added, "it was depressing to see how the country and its people have suffered so greatly."
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The afternoon sun catches Yayu Zonveni's face near the door of her otherwise shadowy home in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). She sits in a blue plastic chair waiting for customers to buy the soda and beer she sells from her house; 200 Congolese francs for a Coke, 400 for a beer. It takes her a day and a half to sell a case of 24 bottles, for which she receives a profit of 400 FC, or almost $1US.
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One of the most important democratic experiments of the last 25 years has been the movement in 600,000 villages across China toward competitive elections, allowing 75 percent of the nation's 1.3 billion people to elect their local leaders. The Carter Center has worked with the Chinese government to help standardize the vast array of election procedures taking place in this new democratic environment and to foster good local governance.
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The Carter Center observed Liberia’s historic presidential and legislative elections on Oct. 11, 2005. Only two years earlier, Liberia had emerged from 14 years of civil warfare, which had left over a million people displaced and the country’s infrastructure destroyed. More than 1.3 million people registered to vote, which was estimated to be 90 percent of the eligible population.
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Liberians, their country devastated by years of civil war, head to the polls in October 2005 in the most promising opportunity the country will have to establish a fragile, post-conflict democracy. Liberia's destroyed infrastructure, pervasive poverty, 85 percent illiteracy rate, and bitter electoral history are compounding the challenges of providing civic education and making technical arrangements for the election process.
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A Palestinian woman places her vote inside the ballot box. Despite a boycott by Hamas and impediments to voters, the turnout was about 65 percent, and there was no serious violence either by the Palestinians or Israelis.
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Looking across the many rows of wood-and-mud shacks that house more than 12,000 people in a camp for displaced persons in Margibi County, Liberia, Jacob Lablah knows he still has work to do.
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For 12 hours in November 2001, in Managua, Nicaragua, Oscar Arias Sanchez visited each polling station on his list, diligently noting voting procedures, listening to voters, and querying election officials. Having co-led the Center's 1996 Nicaragua election mission with President Carter and former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, the responsibilities were both sacred and familiar to Arias, the former president of Costa Rica and author of a peace plan for Central America that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987.
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Helping to break the cycle of violence that has plagued previous elections in Jamaica, The Carter Center in October observed the island nation's second relatively peaceful election.
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