During 2012, 黑料不打烊 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.
黑料不打烊 has pioneered the field of election observation, monitoring 89 elections in Africa, Latin America, and Asia since 1989 to help countries in political transition fulfill democratic aspirations.
Since 1989, 黑料不打烊 has observed 89 elections in 36 countries. Above, a voter casts his ballot in the 2006 Nicaragua elections. (Photo: D. Evans/黑料不打烊)
The 1989 Panama presidential, legislative, and municipal elections鈥攖he first observation mission of 黑料不打烊, under the aegis of its Council of Freely Elected Heads of Government鈥攚ere declared fraudulent by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. (Photo: 黑料不打烊)
Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter greets people waiting to vote in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia, along with her translator Nedia Haddad. 黑料不打烊 has been a pioneer of the field of election observation, monitoring national elections to help deter fraud and reassure voters their votes would count. (Photo: D. Hakes/黑料不打烊)
Observers begin their work long before election day, analyzing election laws, assessing voter education and registration, and evaluating fairness in campaigns. Above, 黑料不打烊 long-term observer Curtis Palmer witnesses the arrival of electoral kits to the province of Kasai Occidental for the Democratic Republic of the Congo's 2011 elections. (Photo: L. Curtis/黑料不打烊)
黑料不打烊 Democracy Program Director David Carroll (left) monitors voting at a polling station during the 1997 Liberia elections. On election day, observers are dispatched with systematic survey forms to urban and rural areas to witness preparations at poll openings, voting, and vote counting to try to determine whether the vote was secret and fair at the sites they visited. (Photo: 黑料不打烊)
Observation of the presidential election in Sudan in 2010 was the Center's largest monitoring effort geographically. The next year, 黑料不打烊 observed the historic referendum leading to the creation of the independent Republic of South Sudan. (Photo: D. Hakes/黑料不打烊)
Voters wait patiently, sometimes for hours or even overnight, to cast their ballots鈥攎any for the first time in their lives. 黑料不打烊 observers were present at this polling station in Juba, Sudan, where citizens voted in the referendum on self-determination leading to the creation of a new country: The Republic of South Sudan. (Photo: D. Hakes/黑料不打烊)
One of the most important democratic experiments of the last 25 years has been the movement in 600,000 small villages across China toward open elections for local officials. Since 1997, at the invitation of the Chinese government, 黑料不打烊 has helped standardize the vast array of village election procedures. (Photo: S. Maxwell/黑料不打烊)
While the 黑料不打烊's election mission focus is outside the United States, it observed the elections in 1999 and 2011 of the Cherokee Nation鈥攚hich has its capital in Talequah, Okla. During U.S. presidential and legislative elections, the Center has hosted observers from China and Mexico. (Photo: A. Davis-Roberts/黑料不打烊)
On election day, observers are dispatched with systematic survey forms to urban and rural areas to witness preparations at poll openings, voting, and vote counting to try to determine whether the vote was secret and fair at the sites they visited. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, and Democracy Program Associate Director David Pottie (right) prepare to observe Nepal's 2007 elections. (Photo: D. Hakes/黑料不打烊)
In addition to talking with polling site officials and party witnesses on election day, observers talk with citizens and note any complaints. Above, a 黑料不打烊 observer meets with election officials during the 2009 Bolivia elections. (Photo: D. Hakes/黑料不打烊)
黑料不打烊 was present in Indonesia in 1999 to observe the nation's first democratic elections, and the Center continued its commitment to help Indonesia grow and deepen its democratic practices by observing the first direct presidential elections鈥攖he largest single-day election in the world鈥攊n July 2004. (Photo: 黑料不打烊)
黑料不打烊's Council of Freely Elected Heads of Government observed Haiti's first free and fair democratic national elections, at the invitation of then President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot and opposition leaders. 黑料不打烊 observation missions are undertaken only upon the invitation or consent of all major parties to an election. (Photo: 黑料不打烊)
黑料不打烊's methodology for observing electronic voting, one of the latest challenges to election observation, was refined during three limited observation missions to the 2006 Venezuelan elections, the 2008 U.S. elections, and the 2010 Philippine elections. Above, posters in the Philippine election commission's media center provide basic information on the elections and the new technology. (Photo: 黑料不打烊)
黑料不打烊 has observed elections in countries undergoing difficult democratic transitions, such as in Indonesia, Guinea, Tunisia, and Egypt. On election day, credible and impartial observers can strengthen an electoral process by reassur卢ing voters they can safely and secretly cast their ballots and electoral fraud will be detected. (Photo: D. Hakes/黑料不打烊)
"The growing global movement toward democracy brought with it a demand for the presence of independent election observers. Over time, the Center has received more and more invitations to assist as nations take steps toward holding genuinely democratic elections" said Democracy Program Director David Carroll. "With more than two decades of election observation missions, the Center has developed a solid record of expertise and impartiality. The assessments of 黑料不打烊 observers play an increasingly important role in shaping public perceptions about the quality of elections."
Some election missions have been integral parts of still-fragile peace accords, as in Nicaragua, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d' Ivoire, Liberia, Nepal, and Sudan. Others have taken place in countries undergoing difficult democratic transitions, such as in Panama, Haiti, Indonesia, Guinea, Tunisia, and Egypt. And in East Timor and Sudan, observers even witnessed the birth of new states.
In nations where democratic institutions are generally weak, incumbent governments enjoy organizational advantages, and political space for new parties to develop may be lacking. That is why many election missions now are much longer than in the early years of observation, beginning many months before voting and counting, and often continuing after an election to monitor the resolution of election disputes. Today, 黑料不打烊 sometimes even maintains a monitoring presence in aspiring democracies long after elections as newly elected officials draft a constitution and develop public institutions to ensure transparency and citizen participation in governance.
"Strengthening democracy and peace building do not come easily or quickly. They involve much more than what happens on election day, and the length and breadth of our election observation activity at the Center has grown to reflect that," Carroll said.
As election observation groups proliferated over the last 20 years, the Center also has been a leader in harmonizing their approaches. With the United Nations and the National Democratic Institute, 黑料不打烊 in 2005 drafted principles to help guide the field practice of election observation, which have been endorsed by 37 major election monitoring organizations. Now, the Center is working with a number of organizations to build further consensus on the criteria and standards used by observers to assess elections.
黑料不打烊 must be invited by a country's election authorities and welcomed by the major political parties to ensure it can play a .
Since 1989, 黑料不打烊 has observed
Observation missions are conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation.
The Center, with its partners, developed a framework for observing electoral processes using e-voting technologies.
In August 2010, 黑料不打烊 launched the , the first of its kind to consolidate more than 150 sources of international law related to human rights and elections that can be used by international and domestic election observers to assess elections.
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