Europe and Eurasia (E & E)

JUNE 2000

IFES ELECTION

ADJUDICATION CONFERENCE Europe ACEEEO ...... p. 2 On 10-11 June in Yaremcha, Ukraine, IFES hosted Albania ...... p. 2 an international conference entitled “Election Dis- Bosnia and Herzegovina ...... p. 4 pute Resolution: Global Perspectives.” Among the Macedonia ...... p. 6 42 participants were Supreme Court judges, Consti- Moldova ...... p. 7 tutional Court judges, judges from oblast courts, Russian Federation ...... p. 9 county courts, and courts of first instance, and law- Ukraine ...... p. 10 yers from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia- Yugoslavia (Kosovo) ...... p. 11 Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Mex- Yugoslavia (Serbia) ...... p. 14 ico, Moldova, Tajikistan, United States, and Ukraine. Participants considered the role of the ju- Caucasus/Central Asia diciary in the electoral process and its obligation to Armenia ...... p. 15 protect the right to elect and be elected. Azerbaijan ...... p. 17 Georgia ...... p. 17 To add an international perspective to the confer- Kazakhstan ...... p. 19 ence, Judge Bohdan Futey, of the U.S. Court of Kyrgyzstan ...... p. 20 Federal Claims, delivered a presentation on main- Tajikistan ...... p. 21 taining judicial independence, and Magistrate J. Je- Uzbekistan ...... p. 22 sus Orozco Henriquez, Federal Election Tribunal of Election Dispute Resolution ...... p. 1

Mexico, spoke on the establishment of specialized judicial or administrative structures to address election disputes. Participants also examined areas of jurisdiction, burdens of proof, the right to free elections, and judicial ethics.

The primary goal of the conference was to facilitate discussion on proper procedures and improvements to legislation and practice. The format of the conference provided ample time for discussion and debate. Dr. Juliana Geran Pilon, IFES Vice President Nana Klargeoshvili, Justice of the Administrative Chamber of the for Programs, and Judge Vasyl Humeniuk, Supreme Supreme Court of Georgia, delivers a presentation at the interna- Court of Ukraine moderated the discussion. tional adjudication conference. Also pictured are J. Jesus Orozco Henriquez, Federal Election Tribunal of Mexico; Vasyl Humeniuk, (Continued on p. 23) Supreme Court of Ukraine, and Dr. Juliana Geran Pilon, IFES Vice President for Programs.

Page 1 EUROPE ticipants during breaks, lunches, and official exhibition hours. Participants expressed genuine interest ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN in the exhibition, and the exhibitors seemed pleased with the design and the amount of attention re- EUROPEAN OFFICIALS ceived. Summary The 2000 Conference of the Association of Central and Eastern European Election Officials (ACEEEO) was held in Warsaw, Poland from 14-16 June. This year's theme was "Information Technology in Elec- tions" and was attended by more than 100 delegates from over 20 countries, as well as numerous observers and election equipment and supplies vendors. Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski addressed to the conference on day one and IFES was pleased that Richard Soudriette, Juliana Pilon, Matt Curtis, Denise Wales, and Jeffrey Carlson, as well as IFES field staff from Bosnia-Hercegovina and Albania IFES President Richard Soudriette and ACEEEO Executive were able to participate in various capacities. Director Zolton Toth at the ACEEEO Conference in Warsaw.

This year’s highlight was the addition of two new Joint Projects members of the Association - Turkey and Mace- In a collaborative effort between IFES, the donia - bringing the total to 18. Several additional ACEEEO and the University of Essex, a web-based countries have expressed an interest in joining, and compendium of election results and legislation was should officially join in the next year. In addition to announced at the Conference. www.essex.ac.uk/ small revisions in the ACEEEO’s Charter, a new elections provides a new, user-friendly website that seven-member Executive Board was elected with provides hard-to-find information on election laws representatives from Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, and election results dating back to 1990 in more Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine and Croatia. In addition, than 20 Central and East European countries. It is a next year’s conference was announced with a focus valuable source of information for lawmakers, elec- on campaign and election finance to be hosted by tion officials, journalists and researchers interested the CEC of Croatia in Zagreb. in the region. With parliamentary and/or presidential elections scheduled throughout Central and The ACEEEO Secretariat and this year’s host the Eastern Europe this year, the site will be of great National Electoral Office (NEO) of Poland demon- value. strated their capacity to take on the great majority of conference organizing. Two key workshops were ALBANIA arranged by NEO and ACEEEO. The first was led by the head of NEO’s technical department and two Revised Initiatives with the Government people from Poland’s largest election supplies com- A year ago, IFES undertook three initiatives with pany, Prokom Software. A second workshop, led the Government of Albania: drafting a new elec- by ACEEEO Secretariat Head Istvan Zsuffa, effec- toral code, establishing a new Central Election tively drew in a good discussion from participants, Commission, and the Electoral Assistance Project. several of whom mentioned to IFES that it was one With the passage of the electoral code and the estab- of the most valuable parts of the conference. lishment of the new CEC in May, the initiatives were revised. IFES’ re-designed program will con- Exhibition tinue to focus on preparations for upcoming local IFES led the preparation for the vendor exhibition elections in the following way: advising the new including the recruitment of Western companies. CEC on regulatory and administrative procedures ACEEEO was asked to recruit European companies. for the upcoming elections; developing and imple- IFES contracted BSC to locate the exhibition space menting with the CEC an election official training and to provide booths, signage, electricity, and extra program, voter information, and candidate informa- equipment. The space layout was quite good and tion programs; and the completion of the Electoral allowed frequent and easy access by conference par- Assistance Project.

Page 2 New Central Election Commission Personnel In early July, Constance Kaplan will join the IFES In June, the CEC was expanded with the addition of staff for two months to develop election official two new members. One vacancy still exists. On 10 handbooks and training modules for the CEC. June, Fotaq Nano was elected as the new Chair and Kaplan will also train a core group of domestic later in the week the Commission moved into tem- trainers who will then work with the CEC to train porary office space in the Palace of Congresses. election officials and party representatives, the lat- ter will be responsible for appointing pollworkers. Administrative and Regulatory Procedures During the month of May, IFES/Albania Program Complications in the Election Assistance Program Director Dickson Bailey met a number of times In June, the Election Assistance Program moved with CEC members and the new Chair to discuss into a critical phase with the beginning of the door- areas of assistance that IFES could provide. Verbal to-door enumeration. By the end of June a majority agreement was reached for the following IFES as- of communities had completed the enumeration. sistance: However, this only represents 50% of the population. Political and administrative difficulties in Ti- · Develop administrative and staffing proce- rana, Durres, Elbasan, Shkoder, Kukes and Lushjne dures; have delayed the enumeration in those localities. · Budget development, identification of supply Enumeration is expected to be completed by 10 July requirements, sources of supply and identifica- in all centers except Lushjne, which may be delayed tion of potential donors; longer due to political conflict. Delays in the enu- · Communication and supply distribution logis- meration have put considerable pressure on the new tics; data center. It may be difficult, for example, to pro- · Draft regulations required by the new electoral duce a comprehensive national list prior to the end code; of August as required by law, and the voter list revi- · Prepare training manuals for Local Govern- sion period during the first two weeks of the elec- ment Election Commissions, election day offi- tion campaign will be critical. cials and information booklets for parties and candidates; The EAP is producing a first-time voter identifica- · Prepare Civic education campaign including tion card for each person on the national voter list. the use of up to four hours of free time on pub- Because of delays in ordering supplies and current lic television and radio as provided by the new time restrictions, cards will have to be distributed code; during the election campaign, which will be very · Development of and work with the new inde- difficult because of the limited number of distribution centers. pendent Electoral Zone Boundary Commission;

· Data base management for the new computer- In July, IFES will be involved in the development ized national voter list and management of the of revision procedures in co-operation with the EAP data center to be transferred to the CEC from national and international staff and the new CEC. the Electoral Assistance Project later this year. The new electoral code assigns this responsibility to

the CEC along with the distribution of the ID cards. New Training and Voter/Civic Education Staff According to the new election law, the EAP must In June, Christopher Shields joined the IFES staff in provide the CEC with a preliminary list of voters by Tirana as a Voter/Civic Education Specialist. 25 August. Although this technically signifies the Christopher has been primarily concerned with the end of the EAP, a transition program for transfer- ongoing civic education program of the Election ring responsibility from the Ministry of Local Gov- Assistance Project. However, he is currently focus- ernment to the CEC has not been developed. In ing more directly on the needs of the CEC in prepa- June, IFES Program Director Dickson Bailey raised ration for the fall elections. In addition, Chris has this issue with other international partners and the been instrumental in the establishment of a domes- CEC. This matter needs to resolved in early July tic NGO Clearinghouse (40 domestic NGOs have and will likely focus on four areas: process for re- shown an initial interest) to co-ordinate funding and vision, ID card distribution program, timing for the programming they may pursue prior to and during transfer of the data center from the project to the the local government elections. IFES will continue CEC, and the internal capabilities of the CEC over to be an important resource and will partly serve as the next few months. a link between the NGOs and the CEC.

Page 3 Impact Summary a Bosnian national knowledgeable about election Over the past year IFES has had a major, construc- management issues should teach the course and that tive impact on the drafting and passage of the new the course should consist of practical exercises electoral code and the implementation of the Elec- rather than lectures. toral Assistance Project. While the EAP is ongoing and has had considerable implementation difficul- AEOBiH member Ahmed Hamidovic of Gracinica ties, it should continue to have a positive impact on thought the idea of incorporating computer skill de- the electoral system in Albania and provide the velopment in the final project was desirable. IFES CEC with a strong base for the improvement of a staff are looking for opportunities for long-distance/ first time national registry of voters. Based on the computer learning for election professionals though proposed areas of agreement between IFES and the infrastructure for such a program is rather limited in new CEC, IFES will have a strong, meaningful role Bosnia. Possible arrangements with the Soroš Cen- in the administration of the upcoming elections and ter, the University of Mostar – East, and the Univer- in assisting the CEC in becoming a truly independ- sity of Sarajevo have been investigated, and while ent body, which will be a first for Albania. all have expressed interested, there is a significant disparity in capacity. While there are less than 5 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (BIH) computers available for students to use at the entire University of Mostar-East, there is a cooperative IFES Develops Election Management Training distance-learning program for an English-language IFES is currently in the process of developing pro- business class involving the University of Chicago grams aimed at increasing the levels of profession- and the Ekonomski Fakultet of the University of alism in Bosnian election management and prepara- Sarajevo. tion for future elections. The first, an election fundamentals course, is being created so that the elec- A second program being developed in coordination tion administrators who are members of the Asso- with the OSCE Election department would train ciation of Election Officials of Bosnia and Herzego- polling station committee members so that they will vina (AEOBiH) as well as local election officials have the preparation necessary to successfully run will have the skills they need to manage elections the November general elections. The focus of the confidently and interact with elected officials effec- training will be on filling out forms and packaging tively. The training program is now scheduled to materials properly. Extra attention will be paid to begin in February 2001. the chairpersons and their deputies. 30 AEOBiH members have already contacted the IFES Sarajevo/ In order to develop the program, IFES’ curriculum AEOBiH Secretariat in order to apply for the trainer coordinator delved into materials from the Canadian positions. IFES staff are working to coordinate Institute for Conflict Resolution, OSCE audits and timelines and activities related to the polling station IFES reports on the April municipal elections, re- committee training. viewed the basic Statute of the AEOBiH and a host of other IFES and AEOBiH educational and training Newly Elected Municipal Governments materials. IFES voter education staff spent a significant amount of time in June attending inaugural sessions After researching what skills and knowledge areas of municipal councils around Bosnia. In many loca- were most important to include in an election ad- tions, things are going well and mayors and assem- ministrators’ educational program and discussion bly speakers have already been chosen, however in with IFES/AEOBiH staff, the curriculum coordina- Doboj, council meetings continue to be postponed tor developed a preliminary outline for a certificate due to party differences although the council has program in elections. succeeded in selecting a mayor and assembly speaker. IFES’ curriculum coordinator drafted a letter of in- vitation for instructors and applications for both po- The municipality of Vukosavlje in the Republika tential instructors and participants in the AEOBiH Srpska has a large number of Bosniak returnees and Election Fundamentals Course. In reviewing the the new assembly election results reflect this with course outline, AEOBiH members have generally 18 from the SD and 17 from the KCD BiH political commented positively. Members from various parties. The return of Bosniaks and some Croats is parts of Bosnia have stated similar preferences that well on the way. Realizing that they will have to live together again, the residents decided that there

Page 4 is a need for a multi-ethnic committee to promote Some citizens, especially those who encountered reconciliation and activities of interest to all three difficulties on Election Day, were at first somewhat sides. The civil society building civic initiatives hostile until they saw that we were genuinely there (GAIN) was only an idea when IFES trainers ar- to help. At least 3 came equipped with their origi- rived in the town, but with some guidance and nal registration receipts which were copied and for- counseling the residents formed a 5-member multi- warded to the OSCE field office for further review. ethnic committee, wrote a statute and plan, and pro- This exercise is proving that this approach is worth gram preparations are under way. They also lob- pursuing. bied the municipality for meeting space. As a result, the municipality provided premises in down- The initial success of the voter register checking town Vukosavlje. stations pilot project greatly exceeded the expectations of the MEC and the OSCE field office. Some Each of the new IFES teams in Bihac, Western Her- of the sites, such as the Post Telephone Telegraph zegovina, and Bijeljina had been assigned the task (PTT) locations, have been quite busy all day long. of attempting to establish 2 GAINs. This was done Others, like the university and the police station/ after the election and after they had the opportunity registry office, have been more intermittent. As a to visit more senior teams in the field. Each new result of our positive experiences with the project, team succeeded in establishing 2 new GAINs, add- we have extended our participation for two addi- ing 16 to the GAINs inventory of approximately tional days. Both of our partners were pleased with 350. Post-election civic/voter education sessions the news and are looking forward to our continued known as GOGs were also held and the final count assistance. of this category is 917 GOGs with attendance of 10,953 between April 9 – June 21. The Bihac Voter Contact Pilot Project has proven to be very successful as indicated by the chart below: Problems in the Voters’ Register Data No. of con- Name was Voted by Small IFES voter education staff in Bosnia also worked to tacts in FVR TB changes encourage citizens to make sure that their information recorded in the voters’ register was accurate. Jun 7 308 148 16 69 This was especially important after the April mu- Jun 8 284 260 13 98 nicipal elections exposed major problems in the voters’ register and frustrated many voters. Voters Jun 9 293 215 2 78 were often forced to vote by tendered ballot at polling stations unprepared for such numbers and some Jun 12 315 245 6 53 potential voters disgusted with these problems even Jun 13 304 259 3 56 decided not to cast ballots. Total 1504 1127 40 354 In Bihac, for example, teams distributed a total of % 100 74.93 2.66 23.54 7,250 flyers in cooperation with schools that gave flyers to students to bring home to their parents, market stand operators who gave flyers to custom- Data Sent to Visited Total visited ers in their bags of fresh produce, and others VRC VRC VRC throughout the municipality. Temporary voter registration checking centers were jointly staffed by New reg. re-reg. IFES staff members and representatives of the Mu- nicipal Election Committee (MEC), and depending Jun 7 62 6 4 10 on the location, the stations were open from 8:00am Jun 8 55 18 6 24 to 12:00pm or 2:00pm. Hundreds of checks yielded many small changes (such as polling sta- Jun 9 74 9 4 13 tions assignments) made on site and a further some Jun 12 69 12 8 20 referrals to the voter registration center (VRC) for more substantive changes. Jun 13 44 15 7 22 Total 304 60 29 89 The reactions of the public have been quite positive with most saying that this effort "was about time." % 20.21 19.70 9.54 29.30

Page 5 This project was a test of an idea regarding contact- bodies, in particular the SEC, in order to deter- ing voters at the places where they pay their electric mine ways in which the process can function bills - PTT offices or the electric utility office. At more effectively and transparently in undertak- his urging, OSCE and the chairman of the Bihac ing a wide range of electoral activities. Particu- MEC met with IFES to explore this idea. After lar emphasis was placed on the adjudication of thinking about it for a day, the MEC chairman complaints and communication and training for agreed to have a representative from the MEC, lower commissions. along with an IFES trainer, or OSCE person, or an- · The quality and transparency of the voter regis- other volunteer, be stationed at 5 locations in Bihac; tration process to determine if there are flaws in two PTT offices, the university, the police station, the process as well as ascertain the role of each and the ZPP (payment bureau). These individuals of the four different bodies involved in creating had copies of the Final Voter Register (FVR) and the voter registry. approached people as they stood in line to pay their · The knowledge of voters and polling boards in bills or take care of other business. In 5 days over exercising their duties and rights on election 1,500 voters were contacted and 354 of these (23%) day. This was especially important given that required changes to be made on their entries. This irregularities during presidential elections oc- information was passed on to the OSCE, and a mes- curred primarily at the polling station both by sage was put out urging OSCE field offices to con- voters as well as members of the polling com- tact MECs to undertake similar approaches before mission. the 10 July registration deadline. This is the easiest, least resource intensive method to address a serious IFES Proposes Technical Assistance to the State difficulty with the voter register that became appar- Election Commission ent in the 8 April election here. As a result of the assessment and the preliminary recommendations developed by the IFES team, a MACEDONIA proposal to USAID was developed to provide short- term assistance for local elections in Macedonia – Technical Assessment Conducted, Preliminary currently scheduled for September 2000 – in order Recommendations to support the State Election Commission (SEC) as In order to provide USAID with recommendations it administers all aspects of the process. Likewise, that may help alleviate some of the technical prob- IFES has proposed to conduct a technical observa- lems present during 1999 presidential elections, tion of the registration process in order to ascertain IFES conducted a two-week assessment of the elec- any flaws in its operation and develop a detailed tion process in Macedonia, focusing on technical plan for reform of the system, as necessary, as well issues from 1999 as detailed in the OSCE’s final as the transfer of the registry from the Bureau of election report and any changes planned for upcom- Statistics to another body by March 2001 (as cur- ing local elections. Through extensive discussions rently planned by the government). Based on the with all major political parties, relevant government results of the assessment, IFES has proposed to: bodies, the State Election Commission, the Supreme support the organizational capacity of the SEC Court, international and national NGOs, and the me- through advising on procedural development, media dia, IFES developed preliminary recommendations outreach, and comparative election practices; for assistance, which were shared with USAID prior through the SEC, conduct a pollworker training pro- to the team’s departure. gram through a training of trainers structure for municipal election officials, pollworkers and party rep- During the course of the assessment, IFES focused resentatives that may train their appointees to poll- on four major issues: ing boards; develop and implement a concise voter education campaign in coordination with the SEC; · The legal framework for elections to determine and conduct a technical observation of the registra- whether there are ambiguities in the law that tion process through coordination with the four gov- allow for confusion and lack of transparency in ernment bodies involved in registration. the process as well as any initiatives to amend the local election law prior to upcoming elec- Upon the approval of the proposal, IFES would be tions. This includes provisions related to the prepared to send four international consultants to duties and function of the SEC. Macedonia in July to work with the SEC and other · The effectiveness of election administration electoral actors on these projects. The team is cur-

Page 6 rently being compiled and will be led by an election will cover rent for space in the polling stations’ administration specialist who will also serve as the budget; chief of party. · Voting procedures for students, military personnel and hospitalized patients as voters in Technical Assessment Report Being Drafted these categories often fail to vote for adminis- The IFES team is currently drafting its assessment trative reasons or vote several times in the same report, which outlines the structure of the election election; and system in Macedonia and provides a series of rec- · An amendment to the Electoral Code that in- ommendations for its improvements. IFES antici- creases the number of signatures to be collected pates that the report will be publicly available in by presidential candidates on subscription lists July 2000. from 20,000 to 60,000 (This issue was of particular interest to voters in Taraclia County, as Impact Summary it is the smallest of Moldova’s counties, with a The short-term assistance project that IFES has pro- voting population of only 30,000). posed would seek to accomplish several objectives as listed below in the run-up to election day. All IFES/Moldova partially covered the expenses for program objectives are aimed at reducing technical Dumitru Nidelcu's participation in the ACEEEO irregularities at polling stations while increasing conference, “Information Technologies in Elec- public confidence in the electoral process after the tions”. Mr. Nidelcu’s participation will prove valu- issues that surrounded presidential elections. able as the Central Election Commission comes closer to introducing an electronic vote tabulation · Enhance the efficacy of election administration system in Moldova. Finally, an IFES/Moldova staff structures and personnel; member met with Mr. Nicolae Televco, Vice- · Encourage the growth of a more informed citi- chairman of the CEC, to discuss an amendment to zenry; and the Electoral Code increasing the number of signa- · Increase confidence in the election process tures required for the registration of presidential through training, advising, and education. candidates from 20,000 to 60,000. Mr. Televco expressed concern that this measure will not result in MOLDOVA fewer registered candidates, rather it will only contribute to the technical and financial problems that IFES, CEC Continue to Collaborate On Civic the CEC is currently experiencing. Education Initiatives The seminar series “Election Bodies: Implementing Working Group Develops Law on Political Parties Citizens’ Constitutional Right to Elect and Be IFES, its indigenous successor the Center of the De- Elected”, was extended to Cahul and Taraclia coun- velopment of Participatory Democracy (CDPD), ties, as well as Gagauz Yeri autonomous region and and the Ministry of Justice Certification Commis- Chisinau municipality. Among the broad array of sion continue to sponsor a Working Group on Po- issues discussed at the seminars were: litical Parties. The Group is nearing a final version · A new law establishing the foundations for dual of the draft law on political parties. On 14 June a citizenship in Moldova and its implications for roundtable with representatives of political parties, the rights of those citizens to participate in the NGOs, mass media and academia was hosted in or- electoral process; der to consider the proposals set forth in the draft. The Group received praise for soliciting the opin- · An amendment to the Electoral Code establish- ions of such a diverse assemblage. Participants ing the method of stamping ballots as the offi- showed support to a series of new provisions re- cial voting procedure; garding party statutes, state support of political par- · A proposal to reduce absenteeism by making ties and expansion of party rights. voting compulsory and increasing the voter

turnout threshold for valid presidential elec- Certification Commission Launches Working tions from 50 percent to 75 percent; Group on NGOs · Altering the composition of electoral bureaus The joint IFES/Certification Commission Working such that they can effectively balance the inter- Group (WG) on NGOs began its activity this month. ests of multiple parties with differing interests; The Group includes representatives of NGOs, the · The creation of a new category of expenses that Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance and the

Page 7 Office of the Prosecutor General. They are charged ciated with the office of the President. During the with establishing criteria for the certification of pub- course of the discussion, concerns were expressed lic associations; defining activities considered to be regarding tensions between the Parliament and in the public interest; and reviewing the activities of President over proposed alterations to the Constitu- currently certified organizations. The final study is tion. Despite the assignment of the role of mediator to be published and distributed to domestic NGOs. in such conflicts to the President, there have been It is expected that the WG will make recommenda- few signs that compromise will be achieved. The tions to incorporate the certification criteria, and the participants were issued two brochures published by list of public service activities in the current legisla- IFES and CDPD: Administrative Liability, and Con- tion regulating the activity of the third sector. tentious Business Falling Within the Competence of Administrative Courts. Other issues addressed this Certification Commission Hosts Regional Semi- month included: the powers of the executive branch, nars to Bring Together Members of the Public and recent amendments to the Electoral Code and the Non-Profit Communities role of the ministries. On 27 June IFES, in cooperation with the Certifica- tion Commission, hosted "The Legal Status of Pub- Local NGOs to Co-sponsor Mass Media Confer- lic Associations in Moldova and Cooperation with ence Public Administration" in Cahul County. More than On 14 June, IFES/Moldova together with the Com- 40 participants from public administration and mittee for Freedom of the Press and LADOM NGOs from Cahul, Tighina, Lapusna, Taraclia, and hosted an international conference "Electoral Cam- Gagauz-Yeri counties attended the seminar. Ex- paign Coverage in Mass Media." Guest speakers perts invited to the seminar discussed the legal included Oleg Panfilov, Director of the Center for framework that regulates the activity of NGOs; the Extreme Journalism (Moscow), and Dindinel Mitu, role of NGOs in democratization; registration pro- Chairman of the League for the Human Rights (Iasi, cedures and registry maintenance; the fiscal treat- Romania). Both highlighted the experiences of their ment of NGOs; and the certification process for own countries in defining the relationship between public associations. the media and the electoral process. Participants debated numerous aspects of electoral campaign An IFES/Moldova staff member delivered a speech coverage, from the financial to the professional. touching upon the concept of partnership, forms of There were also complaints of manipulation of jour- cooperation between public administration and nalists during the electoral campaign. Each partici- NGOs, as well as examples of successful partner- pant was issued a copy of the recently published ship in Moldova and worldwide. During the ques- guide: Republic of Moldova: 50+1 journalists. Top tion and answer session, participants sought further of mass media - 2000, which was printed with the clarification on a number of procedural and admin- financial support of IFES/Moldova. The conference istrative issues that emerging associations face on a was written up in Issue no. 23 of Dialog newspaper. daily basis. IFES Continues Regular Radio Broadcasts The Public Associations series was first hosted in IFES/Moldova and LADOM continued to produce Balti county and has received praise from members the Voice of the Voter and Civic Voice radio series’ of the NGO community. Since hosting that semi- on Chisinau’s ANTENA C Municipal Radio Sta- nar, youth NGOs and the Balti County Council have tion. On 1 June, the Civic Voice broadcast was dedi- decided to collaborate on establishing a council for cated to International Children’s Day, focusing on youth problems that will draw from representatives children’s rights in general and the plight of chil- of both the NGO community and public administra- dren today in Moldova. On 2 June, the program tion. featured an interview with Justice Anastasia Pascari of the Constitutional Court, discussing the legal IFES Instructs Youth about the Political Process foundations of electoral rights in Moldova. On 5 In June IFES/Moldova, CDPD and European Stars June, the Voter’s Guide edition was broadcast. The hosted four training sessions for the youth wings of show featured Vice-Chairman Nicolae Televco of Moldova’s political parties. The first session, the CEC, who spoke about the CEC’s program of “President of the Republic of Moldova,” was at- training electoral officials at the local level and the tended by 35 party representatives. The participants importance of the IFES/CEC seminars in that proc- were briefed on the rights and responsibilities asso- ess. On 12 June and 16 June, IFES and LADOM

Page 8 broadcast two editions of the Voice of the Voter se- erage in Mass Media” encouraged further national ries on the ANTENA C Municipal Radio Station. debate over the role played by the media in elec- The 19 June program featured Justice Gheorghe tions. Through conferences like this, IFES and its Susarenco of the Constitutional Court, who spoke partners hope to foster a better-informed and self- about the results of the international conference on reflective media apparatus. The intent is ultimately electoral courts recently organized by IFES in to improve the quality and content of political infor- Ukraine. Justice Susarenco described the role of mation available and promote an increase in public electoral courts in Moldova as inadequately defined demand for such information. In addition, IFES by current laws and made several suggestions for continues to broadcast non-partisan civic and politi- improvements. cal content through the Voice of the Voter and Civic Voice radio programs. These programs contribute Impact Summary to the development of an informed electorate and In the spirit of fostering transparency and consensus seek to engender an atmosphere of civic participa- in the process of building political institutions, tion. IFES/Moldova continued its work with the CEC. The seminar series “Election Bodies: Implementing RUSSIAN FEDERATION Citizens’ Constitutional Right to Elect and Be Elected” seeks to extend the debate over institu- IFES/Russia to Release a Training Video on In- tional development to local and regional officials, vestigative Journalism representatives of the media, political parties, and Work has been continuing at IFES/Russia on the NGOs. Soliciting the opinions of all participants in production of the training video “Elections and In- the electoral process at this stage of development vestigative Journalism”. This work is implemented ensures a greater degree of understanding and confi- within the framework of the IFES Media and Elec- dence, and establishes an environment of participa- tions Program. The production team spent five days tion at the local level. filming in Samara the last week of the Gubernato- rial elections. This was a good opportunity to record This spirit of partnership is reaffirmed in parallel the electoral process, including interviews with the activities with the Ministry of Justice and the Certi- public relation companies, campaigners, and voters. fication Commission. The seminar series entitled IFES consultant Mariela Lopez spent three days in “The Legal Status of Public Associations in Samara with the film crew. Moldova and Cooperation with Public Administra- tion” seeks to establish the framework for coopera- The production company is currently reviewing the tion between public administration and associations. tapes and will start filming sequences, involving The regional seminars are informative in nature and actors next week - as the video will "enact" those provide a platform for the exchange of ideas be- sections connected with violations. At present ar- tween local officials and representatives of the NGO rangements are being made for an interview with community. the Chairman of the CEC, Alexander Veshnyakov. A rough cut will be ready by 25 July. While IFES wants to make available all of the resources at its disposal, it also hopes to instill a sense IFES/Russia Final Seminar of ownership among the numerous organizations Prior to the official closure of IFES Moscow Repre- and institutions that contribute to the formation of sentative Office, scheduled for 31 July, the IFES/ new legal and political structures. To this end, IFES Russia team has undertaken a large-scale regional is sponsoring two working groups in cooperation seminar entitled “Improving Election Legislation with the Ministry of Justice and the Certification and Election System of the Russian Federation.” Commission. These groups have been established The seminar will be held in the Baikal Business with the explicit purpose of further codifying the Center of the city of Irkutsk on 20-23 July, 2000. So laws regulating political parties and NGOs. Both far 56 individuals have confirmed their participa- groups endeavor to draw upon the resources of the tion, including Chairman of the Central Election political, non-profit and academic communities in Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation, crafting a fluid and transparent regulatory structure. Alexander Veshniakov. Representatives of election commissions of 30 subjects of the Russian Federa- The joint conference on “Electoral Campaign Cov- tion have also demonstrated their interest in the

Page 9 event and confirmed their participation. The semi- elected to the city Duma on 18 June will be the 14th nar is a joint effort between IFES/Russia, the CEC Duma deputy whereas it must have 22 deputies. For of the Russian Federation, Institute for Election the city Duma to be legitimate and able to begin Systems Development, and the election commission working it must consist of at least 15 deputies. Ac- of the Irkutsk Region. IFES will be represented by cording to the press reports, elections in Vladi- Christian Nadeau, IFES/Russia Project Director, vostok were accompanied by a number of small vio- Viktor Sheinis, a former State Duma deputy and a lations. long-standing partner of IFES/Russia, Viktor Ragozin, Legal Assistant to the State Duma Deputy The representative body of power in the capital of Head, Daphne Skillen, IFES/Russia “Media and Primorye has not been functioning since October of Elections” Project Manager, Paul De Gregorio, 1993 once the first President of Russia abolished the IFES election administration expert, and Igor Soviets in the country by one of his decrees. Ivanov, IFES “Media and Elections” project advisor and former TV Center Legal Department Head. Six Former Presidential Candidates Owe Funds to the State Budget Vladivostok City Duma Elections Failed Again Six out of 12 former presidential candidates have so Both Vladivostok city Mayoral elections and run- far not returned the funds they had received from off elections to the city Duma were held on 18 June. the state budget to conduct their election campaigns. It was reported that two hours prior to the polls clo- This follows from the financial report of the CEC of sure 33.3% of eligible voters took part in the May- the Russian Federation on expenditure of federal oral elections, automatically rendering them valid budget funds on the preparation and conduct of the from the viewpoint of participation as the local law presidential elections. sets the voter turnout threshold at 25%. About 7% percent of voters had cast their ballots earlier for According to the law, each candidate running for various reasons. presidency received 400,000 rubles from the state budget. So far, only half of the former candidates Vladivostok has not had an elected Mayor since the have paid that amount back: Vladimir Putin, Gen- late 1998 when Viktor Cherepkov was removed nady Zyuganov, Grigory Yavlinsky, Aman Tuleyev, from this position by the first President of Russia Alexey Podberyozkin, and Umar Dzhabrailov. The decree. Yevgeny Nazdratenko, governor of the re- total amount owed by former presidential candi- gion, appointed then Yuri Kopylov as Acting dates to the state equals today 1,786,081 rubles. Mayor. UKRAINE Among the five candidates who competed for the mayor’s post were State Duma deputy and former IFES President Visits Kyiv Vladivostok mayor Viktor Cherepkov, Valentin IFES President Richard Soudriette visited the IFES Lognenko, “Primorye Beer Industry” General Di- office in Kyiv 18-21 June. While in Ukraine, Mr. rector, Sergey Grats, leader of the “Consent” re- Soudriette attended several meetings with govern- gional public organized movement, and the current ment officials, including Mykhailo Riabets mayor, Yuri Kopylov, who is openly supported by (Chairman of the Central Election Commission), the local governor, Yevgeny Nazdratenko. The in- Deputy Alexandr Lavrynovych, Deputy Vladimir cumbent Yuri Kopylov won the election. Shishkin, and judges of the Supreme Court. He also met with the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven The run-off elections to the city Duma were con- Pifer and USAID representatives. Discussions fo- ducted in eight districts and failed in all of them. cused on the current political situation in Ukraine, According to the press service of the local election the future of IFES activity, and cooperation with commission, the 25% threshold was not reached in partner organizations. at least six of the eight districts. Only in one of the districts the turnout was 37.4%. After participating in the international conference, “Election Dispute Resolution: Global Perspectives,” This attempt to form the city Duma is eighteenth in Dr. Juliana Geran Pilon also visited the Ukraine a row. City of Vladivostok is the only center of the field office. Dr. Pilon discussed civic education subject of the Russian Federation with no represen- initiatives in Ukraine and Kazakhstan with the CEC tative body of local self-government. The candidate Chairman, the Public Affairs Section of the U.S.

Page 10 Embassy (formerly known as the United States In- the CEC’s program. formation Service), and Professors Sergei Riabov and Sergei Kiselyov of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. International Adjudication Conference in Ukraine While in Ukraine, Dr. Pilon also met with members IFES hosted an international conference on election of Parliament and representatives of USAID to con- dispute resolution 10-11 June. Judges and lawyers sider future programmatic activities in Ukraine. from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Mex- Democracy Camp Preparations Underway ico, Moldova, Tajikistan, United States of America, As an extension of the pilot civic education program and Ukraine traveled to Yaremcha for the two-day initiated in the fall of 1999, IFES, in cooperation conference. Topics of discussion included maintain- with the pilot schools and Sergei Kisselyov of Kyiv- ing judicial independence in election dispute cases, Mohyla Academy, has organized a democracy train- burdens of proof, areas of jurisdiction, the developing camp for student government representatives to ment of alternative bodies to consider election dis- encourage participation and prepare the students for putes, the right to free elections, and judicial ethics. their role as community liaisons. During the camp, The IFES/Ukraine office is currently compiling which is to be conducted in Ostior 1-16 July, stu- transcripts and presentations for a post-conference dents will receive training in fundraising, organizing publication that will be distributed to all partici- committees, determining the needs of the student pants. For more detailed information on the confer- body, contacting and cooperating with local busi- ence, please refer to the section entitled “Election nesses and government officials, and setting realis- Dispute Resolution: Global Perspectives.” tic and achievable goals. In addition to the NGO training, students will participate in a series of ac- Impact Summary tivities designed to encourage trust, cooperation, The democracy training camp for students helps to and confidence among the members of the student ensure that students are equipped with the skills government. necessary to interact with other students and community members in a profession and productive In June, IFES Civic Education Consultants Chris- manner. The pilot civic education program as a tina Houlihan and Kimberly Warren arrived in Kyiv whole aims to encourage active and informed par- to assist with preparations. Houlihan and Warren, ticipation of youth in the electoral process and com- along with four local trainers and nine teachers from munity affairs. Engaging students at the local level the pilot schools, will facilitate the training work- where they are more likely to see the impact of their shops. Trainers will utilize role-playing and group efforts will persuade young people to take a more discussions, as well as other participatory teaching active role in regional and national issues. Addi- methods, as a means to increase interest in and re- tionally, the student governments will demonstrate tention of information presented during sessions. to members of the community that a unified effort can effect change. The success stories of the The CEC Conducts Organizational Meeting for schools will encourage participation of others, in- Civic Education Working Group cluding parents and teachers, as it is IFES’ hope that On 5 June, the CEC gathered representatives from communities will rally around the schools and youth the Ministry of Education, the Department of Edu- desire to improve their collective situation. cation for Kyiv City, the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences, and IFES to discuss the formation of a YUGOSLAVIA (KOSOVO) civic education working group. The CEC plans to develop a civic education curriculum for students in Registration the upper grade levels to familiarize them with the Earlier this year, the Joint Registration Task Force Constitution, election legislation, and the electoral (JRT)’s Turnout Committee estimated that 1.2 mil- process. Through this working group, the CEC lion Kosovars were eligible to apply for civil and hopes to develop the curriculum and teacher and voter registration. In the short period since the be- student manuals by the end of the calendar year so ginning of registration at the end of April, more that the material can be introduced in schools than 800,000 Kosovo residents and over 20,000 throughout the country during the third and fourth Kosovars currently outside the province have ap- quarters of the 2000-2001 academic year. Chair- plied to register. According to a recently conducted man Riabets referred to the IFES pilot program and Gallup poll, approximately 67% of the people sur- expressed his desire to incorporate the project into veyed reported that they had already registered.

Page 11 Roughly 80% of those polled declared themselves mains low, there have been some indications that an well informed about the registration process, and increase is possible. In mid-May OSCE Head-of- 93% stated that they believed registration was an Mission and senior members of the JRT met with important process. Serb political leaders in Leposavic who indicated they might be willing to participate in the registra- Reviews and Inquiries tion and elections process. They were to meet with Though less than 10% of all applications necessitate their supporters and other Serb political leaders be- review, this still requires a significant amount of fore making their decision. The JRT Legal Advisor time and resources from municipal record officers has prepared a legal analysis on how such participa- working in municipal record centers. In order to tion could be accomplished and JRT Field Opera- stem the growing backlog of review cases (more tions is working on ways to accommodate these po- than 20,000 cases), municipal record officers have tential registrants as Phase I of civil and voter regis- been mobilized from locations with less review tration comes to an end. cases to those requiring more assistance, but with current international staffing numbers, the size of Meanwhile the JRT Minority Outreach Officer has this backlog is likely to continue to escalate. The been meeting with various groups of Serbs, primar- Documentation Project has asked for additional UN ily in the Zvecan, Lipjan, and Mitrovica municipali- volunteers to address the backlog problem and has ties. Most of those with whom she met are not in- also considered asking KFOR soldiers with admin- terested in registration despite their knowledge of istrative skills to assist in the processing of back- the process. Serbs in larger towns are well aware of logs. the process and have chosen not to participate. Serbs in smaller villages have less information but Though collecting and sorting all of the review and were nonetheless uninterested. inquiry cases will continue to require a great amount of time and effort, case officers’ inquiries OSCE Ambassador Daan Everts went to Prizren to into applications have shown that the most common meet with representatives of the Turkish community cases involve female applicants between the ages of on 21 June to discuss the lack of enthusiasm on the 16-25. Approximately 90% of the cases collected part of the Turkish community to take part in the so far involve applicants for whom it has been diffi- registration process. They requested Turkish to be cult to prove their identities. recognized as a working language by UNMIK/ OSCE, particularly in the registration and election Documentation process. Ambassador Everts explained OSCE pol- Two major concerns have highlighted the need for icy towards the issue was that duplicate Turkish lan- document security. First, a comparison of the cur- guage application forms could be submitted by rent inventory of birth, marriage, and death registers Turkish applicants, but these duplicate forms are to in the town of Leposavic’s municipal inventories be used jointly with an official, bar-coded registra- with inventory lists from last December lends cre- tion application form. Indications have been mixed dence to the suspicion that certain municipal records as to whether this concession will be sufficient to have been sent to Serbian authorities. Second, there allow mass Turkish participation in the Registration have been several cases of suspicious documents process. The JRT has also designed and translated presented at registration sites in different areas. In the Turkish-language registration application form, response, a report has been submitted to the Direc- and is working to make it available as quickly as tor of the UN Civil Administration’s Civil Docu- possible. Additionally, Turkish-speaking registra- ment Section, and a profiling system is being devel- tion staff will be available in the relevant registra- oped to identify villages and municipalities where it tion centers to facilitate the timely completion of is more likely for registration irregularities to occur. these forms. The system will be tested in Srbica/Skenderaj before being implemented in other regions. The In the Gnjilane region, the participation of Ashkali Documentation Project is still waiting for security- and Roma residents in Urosevac/Ferizaj is still rela- related equipment such as file cabinets, smoke de- tively low. The main reasons are poverty, illiteracy, tectors, and fire extinguishers. and a lack of information and security. JRT staff met community leaders to increase information Minority Participation about the registration process within their popula- While the number of Kosovar Serbs registering re- tion. They agreed to register on Monday, 29 May

Page 12 in the presence of journalists. They also agreed to Election Operations to fulfill their election-related look for five volunteers from each community to be duties. briefed by JRT members and to spread relevant information within the different groups. Participation The CEC is also considering proposals for civil and from the Gorani (Muslim Slav) communities has voter registration of homebound, disabled, hospital- been encouraging so far. ized and imprisoned citizens as well as a proposed Electoral Rule on Media and nominations for Dep- Legal Assistance uty Commissioner for the Election Complaints and IFES and the JRT are working to ensure that the Appeals sub-Commission (ECAC). large amount of biometric data being made available by applicants during the registration process is IFES has also been working with the ECAC to draft kept safe and confidential. IFES continues to pro- rules of procedure, as well as to develop an effec- vide legal counsel to the JRT Data Protection Offi- tive administrative system for the appeals process. cer to address the legal and rights-related ramifica- Procedures have been drafted on appeals for those tions of different aspects of the registration process, denied registration on the voters’ and/or civil regis- such as notifications, reconsiderations, inquiries and try, complaints alleging violation of electoral laws, appeals. This is an important component especially party codes of conduct, and objections to placing or in light of the continued time constraints on and retaining names on the voter registry. Some recom- changing nature of the registration process. IFES mendations for improving the appeals procedure has also provided legal commentary on the draft include the consolidation of the appeals process, municipal election regulations and public scrutiny increased transparency, and ensuring distinctions of the voter registry, especially in regard to its ad- between party agents and observers. herence to international law. IFES recommended changes including amendments to the legal frame- Domestic Capacity Building (DCB) work of the elections and changing the scope of The Domestic Capacity Building Division (DCBD) voter registry inspection. and IFES Information Technology specialists have designed a Municipal Election Commission (MEC) Election Operations member candidate’s database. The MEC database will allow the DCBD to track the application forms The Central Election Commission of potential MEC members. The CEC will draw The Central Election Commission (CEC) met for from this pool of candidates to establish the MECs the 10th time to consider the Special Representative by the end of July. of the Secretary General (SRSG)’s recommendations on an appropriate electoral system for the mu- IFES drafted a paper on capacity building concern- nicipal elections. The CEC decided to recommend ing matters that need to be addressed to ensure that the Ste.-Lague formula for proportional representa- the MECs can fulfill their duties during the electoral tion for both practical purposes and to guarantee process and become part of a permanent profes- minority representation. Other recommendations sional electoral administration. Topics addressed in included placing women high on party candidate the paper included the legal and institutional status lists to ensure representation in elected bodies and of the MECs, their responsibilities, their relation- the use of open-list ballots for in-Kosovo voting but ship with the media, political parties and candidates, closed-list ballots for absentee voting. election officers and the CEC, as well as long-term capacity building and training. The CEC also adopted the Electoral Rule on Do- mestic Observers in June. This Rule specifies that The DCBD has also moved forward in the design of UNMIK-registered domestic NGOs may be accred- its training plan. DCBD will work with the Train- ited to observe the registration and election process ing and Media Department to create a MEC training and that other groups, such as political parties or program that will ensure that proper media guide- citizens’ initiatives, may nominate representatives lines are set, and that the MECs will be able to han- to observe as well. All observers wishing to be ac- dle the anticipated significant press interest in a co- credited must be registered voters not currently ordinated manner. IFES also proposed that a tie-in standing for election. These observers, integral to to OSCE Spokesman Roland Bless and the Media ensuring the impartiality and credibility of the elec- Center be created for the election period. toral process, will be trained by the Department of

Page 13 To further the professional development of an election with UNMIK Blue Sky Radio and Radio 21. toral administration, DCBD also arranged for the The spots are produced in Albanian and Serbian and CEC Secretariat to attend the ACEEEO conference are sent to radio stations throughout Kosovo for in Warsaw. broadcast.

Political Party Services (PPS) Information Technology A total of 22 political parties, a coalition of 6 parties, 2 citizens’ initiatives and 16 independent can- ID Card Production didates submitted a total of 266 applications for cer- IFES is also working on the issue of production and tification in all 30 municipalities by the June 19 distribution of ID Cards. Production of ID cards deadline. The number of parties applying to contest had been scheduled to commence on June 22, but ranges from 19 in Pristina to 1 in both Zubin Potok was delayed due to a reconstruction in the SAGEM and Zvecan, averaging slightly less than 9 parties database. Approximately 600,000 of one million per municipality. The parties contesting in the most cards should be produced for distribution prior to municipalities are the Democratic League of Kos- Election Day. ovo (LDK) and the Alliance for the Future of Kos- ovo coalition (AAK) both with 29, and the Democ- In light of the difficulties to produce the ID cards, ratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) with 27. There are and alternative for checking identification has been several middle-sized parties, as well as 6 minority created. Individuals would use the registration re- parties: 2 Turkish parties, 2 Bosniak parties, one ceipt or other documentation to prove their identity Ashkali party, and the Democratic Reform Move- against their information on the provisional voter ment of Muslims. register. Procedures to deal with registrants who have a registration receipt but do not appear on the PPS has also laid some groundwork for the prepara- voter register need to be designed. Should this be tion of candidates’ lists. A letter in Albanian, Ser- the case, the applicant will have to fill out a new bian, and Turkish was sent to all political parties application form but no biometric data will be col- that have applied to take part in the elections alert- lected. ing them to the need to immediately start looking for candidates for the elections. A draft ‘candidate Impact Summary profile’ was included in the letter; including ad- Since the commencement of registration in late vance notice on the need to submit women candi- April, more than 800,000 Kosovars have applied for dates. registration, with almost 730,000 applicants already being placed on the registry. Although nearly Public Information 70,000 cases are still under review, the JRT has in- The public information section has been working to creased its inquiry personnel and anticipates that the address the needs of the minority communities. review process should be completed by the end of Flyers with information about registration in Turk- August. As a result of efforts to complete the civil ish and Bosniak are being distributed in the appro- registration by the July 15 date, IFES has worked priate areas of Kosovo, and KFOR has been distrib- with the JRT to ensure that Serb population and uting JRT-produced posters and flyers to the Serb other minority groups are receiving updated and enclaves. Additional advertisements appear in the timely information on registration. There have also Turkish and Bosniak bi-weekly newspapers and been continuing efforts to encourage the Turkish Serbian dailies. population to register. To help motivate the group, election officials have proposed that duplicate Turk- The Public Information Section of the Public Infor- ish language application forms could be submitted mation and Training Division reorganized and ex- by the Turkish applicant with an official bar-coded panded into 6 sub-sections including Design, Radio, registration application form. The JRT anticipates Television, Print, Outreach/Events, and Translation. that with the continual outreach efforts, 80% of eli- In the process, the staff complement rose from 8 to gible voters will be registered in time for the fall 19. This expansion was undertaken in concert with municipal elections. the design of an enhanced Public Information campaign in an effort to ensure all persons from Kosovo YUGOSLAVIA (SERBIA) are informed and encouraged to register. Pre-Election Assessment Conducted Radio spots have been produced weekly in conjunc- In June, IFES conducted a two-week assessment in

Page 14 the Republic of Serbia, FRY in order to analyze the good sense of the level of preparation underway and opportunities for technical assistance in preparation the expectations of non-governmental organizations, for potential local and/or federal elections in the some MECs, opposition political parties and the Fall. IFES met with most major opposition political media on the conditions for future elections. Unfor- parties, non-governmental organizations active in tunately, it was able to assess the level of technical elections, local government officials, some local preparations by the higher election commissions or election commissioners, media representatives, rep- government coalition parties. resentatives from the international community in Belgrade, among others. The assessment team CAUCASUS/CENTRAL ASIA traveled to several municipalities outside of Bel- grade in order to determine whether there was room ARMENIA for assistance at the local level. Repeated attempts were made to meet with the Federal Election Com- IFES/Armenia Meets in Parliament on Election mission, Republican Election Commission, and Su- Code Amendments preme Court without success. Likewise, repeated Jeffrey Swedberg of IFES/Armenia met on June 19 attempts to schedule meetings with governing par- with Victor Dallakian, Chairman of the National ties both in Belgrade and in local branches were not Assembly Committee on State and Local Issues. answered. Dallakian indicated that parliament would take up amendments to the universal election code in Sep- Political Uncertainties and Preparations tember and complete them in November 2000. He Many questions still remain as to what kind of (if asked for assistance from the international organiza- any) elections will be held and who will participate tions, including IFES, for recommendations on four in federal elections; whether Montenegro and Kos- major issues which were points of contention when ovo will take part. These questions have a definite the Universal Electoral Code was being debated in and immediate impact on determining assistance. 1999 and appear likely to be so again later this year. Assuming they are called, local and federal elections may be held separately or simultaneously. Si- IFES/Armenia and its counterparts UNDP and multaneous elections could impede attempts to OSCE worked together to produce a response. The work with current Municipal Election Commissions issues are: (MECs) since the Federal Election Commission can replace them. I. The ratio of proportional versus majoritarian seats under current law, of the 131 seats in the par- Preparations for elections by opposition political liament, 75 (57%) are elected in single mandate ma- parties appear to be well underway. Training and joritarian districts, and 56 (43%) are elected on pro- educational activities have been well planned and portional lists. For a party to form a faction in par- are commencing. Among Serbian NGOs, there is liament, it must receive at least 5% of the propor- considerable interest in assistance and partnership tional ballots cast. In the 1999 election, 6 out of 21 and they have also begun planning and preparations registered parties cleared this barrier. for their work during the election period, such as election observation, training, and voter education. The greatest criticism against the current ratio Some municipal election commissions have also comes from parties with relatively small factions in begun planning for a proactive program to inform the parliament, the majority of whose members voters on the elections and provide training for their were elected on party lists. Supporters of propor- pollworkers in addition to other activities designed tional majority say the system fosters the develop- to encourage public participation and confidence in ment of political parties in Armenia and makes vote the election process. manipulation more difficult. But critics who usually come from the ruling establishment counter that Ar- Impact Summary menian parties are still too weak to be entrusted Based on the findings of this assessment, IFES will with governing the country. prepare a final report and a series of recommendations for technical assistance. Given the challenges II. The principle of the formation of electoral com- with operating in Serbia due to political considera- mittees presently, the Armenian CEC is composed tions, the possibilities of off-site assistance should of 13 members. Three members are appointed by be considered. Based on the meetings that the IFES the government; five members are appointed by the assessment team conducted, it was able to get a

Page 15 parties that have factions in the parliament; and five · The initial lists provided by the passport offices members are appointed by the first five parties not to the community leaders are often incomplete in the parliament that present at least 30,000 valid and not up to date. signatures. The 11 regional election committees are formed in the same manner. Each REC member IV. Military voting currently, members of the mili- can appoint one member of all the PECs in his or tary and their families are included on the voter lists her region. A new CEC is formed at the same time of the nearest precinct to where they are stationed. as the commencement of the pre-election campaign If a military unit is more than 50 km from the near- for parliament. est settlement, they form their own precinct (there was only one such precinct in 1999). The military International observers have noted a number of and Internal Affairs servicemen are to enter the pre- problems with this system: cinct “not in marching line and unarmed.” · The current system of CEC formation with re- spect to party representation is vulnerable to Given the age and circumstances of most military manipulation. Small political parties can be personnel, however, they are particularly vulnerable represented on the CEC, while a party with a to instruction on voting by their commanding offi- much broader support base may be left with no cers. While not marched into the polling station representation because it lost a race for signa- itself, units are generally marched up to the grounds tures. of the precinct and moved through the voting proc- · It was widely acknowledged in 1999 that the ess by military order. There is often no clear break CEC was unable to credibly check the required between the military organization of the conscripts sample of the signatures presented. and the free exercise of the right and opportunity to · Parties have the ability to remove appointees to vote. the electoral committees, even during the pre- election period. This allows the independence Constitutional Court Nullifies Results of District 5 of committee members to be compromised Parliamentary Elections when administrative and partisan interests col- On 20 June, the Constitutional Court threw out the lide. results of the 21 May by-election in District 5 and · Committees at all levels need more time to or- called for a new election – on 9 July. The decision ganize and systematize the entire process. Re- was made on claims lodged against the Yerevan constituting election committees too close to Regional Electoral Commission by two defeated the election day invites confusion in the ad- candidates who highlighted a number of irregulari- ministration of the election process. ties. An investigation to be conducted by the prose- · There is a practice of bargaining amidst the par- cutors’ office. The court took a week to consider an ties over appointments to precinct commissions appeal filed by the Armenian Revolutionary Federa- in strategic areas, creating the impression of tion (Dashnak) member Kim Balayan and Chairman political manipulation of PECs. of the United Progressive Communist Party of Ar- menia Vazgen Safarian who claimed widespread III. Voter lists under the current Code, voter lists are problems with the handling of ballots. The Court compiled and maintained by community leaders. heard testimony from members of precinct election The communities post the lists 40 days before the committees 55, 56, and 62 where the highest num- elections and make corrections based on citizen ap- ber of violations was registered. Under the election peals for 35 days. The Code specifies that the CEC code, the judgement of the Constitutional Court is is to establish the procedure for the compilation of final and cannot be appealed. the voter lists in communities. In practice, however, the CEC has largely left the voter list compilation The final results released by the REC indicated that process up to the individual community leaders. independent candidate Yeghia Shamshyan had won This has proven to be one of the biggest continuing by a 91 vote margin, with 43 registered protocol problems with election administration today. inaccuracies. However the Court noted that the · The procedures issued by the CEC have yet to REC failed to deliver 1,369 ballots to the PECs; that establish a consistent process for the compila- 50 signed ballots had been stolen off a PECs table tion of the initial voter list by the community prior to the election; and that two ballots from one leaders. precinct ended up in the ballot box of another. The

Page 16 Court found that the number inaccuracies was sig- the President’s Office the law was to be changed to nificantly higher than the vote margin and that the delete reference to CEC members not being allowed election would have to be rerun. to be members of, or join, political parties. Only one of four references seems to have been deleted. On the whole, the process was gratifying in that the Court uncovered and publicized significant viola- IFES Civic Education Project Began tions and took appropriate measures. While it is The municipal governance Civic Education activity unclear whether the “authorities” had a clear favor- began with the arrival of the CE specialist, Elsie ite or a stake in the outcome of this election, Sham- Chang. The project will deliver civic education shyan had joined the presidentially-aligned Stability about municipal governance and fall parliamentary bloc in his brief time as a registered deputy, while elections at the community level. One aspect of the Balayan was the consensus candidate of the political project will be the assessment of local municipal opposition. Balayan’s proxies did their job well in officers and the design of training for elected offi- verifying violations and Balayan, a lawyer, put on a cials. The activity will strengthen citizens' under- powerful courtroom appearance. By contrast, the standing of their role in municipal governance. election committees came off poorly. The Yerevan REC failed in its most fundamental of tasks, deliv- IFES/Washington Briefs World Bank ering the proper number of ballots to the PECs. At IFES Senior Advisor Phylis Greenfield meets with least three PECs filed incomplete protocols and one the World Bank team on the Caucasus to discuss PEC actually allowed signed ballots to be stolen, Azerbaijan’s Fall Parliamentary elections, civil so- opening the door widely to potential voter fraud. It ciety development, election reform and local gov- appears that election committees were not ade- ernance. During the discussion areas of mutual in- quately trained and prepared. terested were examined, particularly civil society building as the World Bank will be establishing a Impact Summary project in Azerbaijan. The two organizations dis- IFES/Armenia continues to work closely with cussed country needs, cultural considerations in pro- UNDP and OSCE, to provide legal advise and com- ject methodology and training design to disseminate mentary to the Parliament as they modify the UEC. information and develop understanding in citizens If accepted, the amended UEC will be keeping with outside Baku on democratic principles, citizen international standards in preparation for future rights and responsibilities in addressing reform. elections. In addition, IFES/Armenia observed the results of the parliamentary elections for the pur- Azerbaijan Admitted into Council of Europe pose of supporting the effectiveness of its programs On 28 June, Azerbaijan was admitted membership in support of Armenia elections. into the Council of Europe with the request that the Azerbaijan government continue to release political AZERBAIJAN prisoners, to struggle against corruption, to progress toward establishing a transparent and accountable Parliamentary Election Legislation system of government in preparation for the No- In June, IFES continued to provide support in vember Parliamentary elections, and address greater preparation to the parliamentary elections in No- transparency and democratic principles in the legis- vember 2000. In support of legislative change, lation development process and election administra- IFES provided ongoing consultation and revision tion. Membership is considered an important step support on the Parliamentary Election legislation, forward towards the sustainability of democracy in continued advisory work to the opposition and to Azerbaijan. local democracy NGOs. In addition, IFES began preparation for the implementation of a municipal GEORGIA governance civic education program. Precinct Election Results Posted on Internet IFES Consults on CEC Law On 12 June following weeks of intense pressure During June IFES/Azerbaijan continued to meet from IFES and USAID/Caucasus, the Central Elec- with the CEC staff on a regular basis as the staff tion Commission (CEC) made public precinct level began to prepare timelines and procedures ready for election results from the April 9th Presidential elec- the commencement of the new CEC in July. In ac- tions on its 2000 Presidential elections website. cordance with the agreement between OSCE and This move marked the first time that the CEC has

Page 17 released complete results from each of the 2600 With local elections anticipated in November 2001, election precincts in a national election. a growing number of Parliamentarians doubt that the political consensus necessary for crafting a new The results are available in English at http://www. election code-- acceptable to a broad majority of cec.gov.ge/index.htm. (In order to view the results, election stakeholders-- is possible amid current ten- from the main page click on "Protocols by Dis- sions. Hence, the ambitious legislative effort to draft tricts," and then use the inset window to choose a a universal or unified election code bringing to- district. The precinct voting statistics are in the grid gether the three existing election laws under one beneath the scanned image of the each respective law will likely include amendments to the existing district protocol.) Law on Local Elections as an interim step toward a new election code. In support of the April 2000 Presidential elections, IFES provided technical and financial assistance to Legal Assistant Joins IFES/Georgia Staff the CEC to create an elections website that would To bolster its ability to provide legal assistance in increase transparency in election administration. In the area of elections, a Georgian lawyer, George addition to increasing public access to election re- Baratashvili, recently joined the IFES project team sults, the site also publicizes CEC resolutions and in Tbilisi. Baratashvili holds a degree in Interna- decisions, includes copies of laws governing elec- tional Law and International Relations from Tbilisi tions and provides contact information of district State University and a Masters of International Hu- and precinct election commissions. With this data, man Rights and Humanitarian Law from Lund Uni- NGOs and parties will be able to compare the infor- versity, Sweden. Baratashvili has previously held mation amassed during their observation of election numerous positions at the Council of Justice, serv- day voting with that provided by the CEC. ing most recently as the State Representative of Georgia to the European Court of Human Rights in Assistance To CEC Internet Network Strasbourg, France. To reinforce the increasing transparency reflected by the CEC’s posting of complete election results As Legal Advisor, Baratashvili will work collabora- for public inspection, IFES plans to work with the tively with the CEC Legal Department Staff and CEC in coming months to further develop the CEC with Members of Parliament and their staff on mat- internet network. This joint activity will strengthen ters related to election law development over the the sustainability and security of the existing net- coming months. In addition, given his strong back- work and enable the CEC to fully utilize its benefit, ground in human rights law and previous govern- technologically and in terms of the added transpar- mental experience. ency it lends to the system of elections. Assessment of Civic Education Needs Based on joint IFES-CEC planning sessions held in In an effort to prepare for a regional civic education June, IFES will assist the CEC over a three month activity planned for later this year, IFES/Georgia period from July to September to train relevant CEC Program Assistant Maya Gogoladze has undertaken Computer Department staff involved in the mainte- an assessment of the civic education experience and nance of the CEC website and databases. capacities of NGOs and civic organizations in and around Tbilisi. Gogoladze has canvassed represen- Parliament May Consider Election Legislation tatives of more than 20 organizations ranging from Since passage of amendments to the election laws democracy and human rights NGOs to women’s governing the April Presidential elections earlier rights and IDP organizations. The objective of this year, the Chairman of the Parliament of Geor- these meetings was threefold; to learn from organi- gia, Zurab Zhavania has repeatedly stressed that a zations’ previous experience in popular civic educa- new election code to govern future elections is a tion activities, to determine what information is priority. This movement gained further momentum needed at the local level and lastly, to identify po- in June with the release of the OSCE/ODHIR Final tential strategic partners. Report on the Presidential Elections on 9 June. The OSCE/ODHIR Report recommends that, “election Impact Summary legislation should be further reviewed with the aim As a result of IFES’ continued efforts to encourage of establishing a comprehensive election code in more transparent administration of elections in compliance with international standards and prac- Georgia, complete final election results were made tices.” available for public inspection via the internet. This

Page 18 historic development sets a new standard for gov- cation and youth organizations to develop joint pro- ernmental institutions seeking to abide by the newly jects targeting young persons. enacted General Administrative Code and impor- tantly allows political parties and NGOs to fulfill IFES/Kazakhstan Project Manager Eilis Ward met their roles as the guarantors of free elections. The with Elena Sadovskaya of the Center for Conflict new IFES/Georgia Legal Advisor increases the ef- Management (CCM) to discuss civic education, as- fectiveness of legal assistance to the CEC and to the pects of the IFES textbook project and the possibil- Parliament and furthers efforts to facilitate open dia- ity of future collaboration. Sadovskaya stressed the logue and encourage an exchange of ideas on elec- importance of providing key information in the text- tion law reform among political parties and NGOs. book that can be used by teachers to promote discussion in the classroom on the reality of contempo- KAZAKHSTAN rary political life in Kazakhstan. She also stressed the importance of comparative material and of rais- Civic Education and Curriculum Development ing critical questions directly and of providing train- In June IFES/Kazakhstan cooperated with the Min- ing for teachers, factors all being addresses by istry of Education, Almaty City Department of Edu- IFES. cation, Altynsarin Institute, and local and international NGOs to develop a revised textbook course Eilis Ward met with Murat Auezov and Saule outline and civic education initiatives. Work con- Kalikova of the Soros Foundation—Kazakhstan. tinued on preparing the IFES civics textbook for use Soros provided good information on teacher train- in pilot schools across the country in fall 2000. The ing in advance of textbook distribution, and offered text and course outline have been undergoing an assistance on issues of distribution and the review adaptation to include more locally-produced, Ka- process. It was a very useful and co-operative zakhstan-specific material, including graphics and meeting and one that could lay the basis for func- illustrations. Additional text on the practice of de- tional cooperation on the textbook and its wider dis- mocracy in other countries has also been prepared. tribution throughout Almaty. IFES/Kazakhstan Each theme of the revised textbook will include a Country Coordinator Marat Bigaliev met with rep- hands-on practical exercise for students that will resentatives of Street Law to discuss their distribu- afford them a greater opportunity to grasp concepts tion network in relation to their textbook projects of democracy and civil society in action. A Rus- and gained valuable information on distribution sian-language translation of the revised text was strategies. begun in June, and will be followed by a rendering in the Kazakh language. ACE Project Distribution of the ACE vote-counting module has In June it was established that the current size of the begun. Five copies have been distributed to each of textbook would be approximately 300 pages long. the IFES/Central Asia offices for local distribution In the coming month the revised text will be for- to NGOs involved in electoral work, with the re- mally reviewed by the Altynsarin Institute, which is mainders retained for the IFES/Almaty Resource expected to provide final recommendations to the Center. Funding for the translation and printing was Ministry of Education on usage. Altynsarin was provided by the Eurasia Foundation. confident that it could complete the review within two weeks of receipt. Impact Summary IFES continues to cooperate with the Ministry of IFES contacted the Ministry of Education in Astana Education, Almaty City Department of Education, in relation to distribution of the book, identity of Altynsarin Institute, local and international NGOs to schools and other, key post-development, post- develop the textbook and civics course materials. printing issues. The Ministry will provide IFES Revisions to the text were finalized in English, with with a draft list of “profile schools”; of this number, the addition of material provided by local authors as IFES and the University will jointly determine well as IFES Vice President for Programs Dr. which will be chosen for distribution. Juliana Pilon. Translation into Russian began with the goal of forwarding all materials for review in Local Civic Education Organizations July. Extensive efforts were made to consult with IFES met in June with a number of local civic edu- local experts and academics in the compilation of Kazakhstan-specific material for the text as well as

Page 19 the development of student exercises. These hands- Vladislav Pototskii concluded a series of twelve Fo- on activities, to be included along with each major cus Groups for students and teachers on the topic of textbook theme, and to be introduced and moderated civic education. Pototskii presented IFES with a final by teachers, comprise the focal point of the IFES in- report detailing the research’s findings. The Focus teractive approach. Groups showed that students are extremely free thinkers and very interested in the concept of democ- During the month, IFES also focused efforts on de- racy, though lacking a broad knowledge of democ- veloping new civic education initiatives and strategic ratic practices and human rights. Respondents ac- partnerships with international and local NGOs in knowledged that, though several different civics order to increase youth participation in social and po- courses currently exist, a new, uniform course of litical life. These partnerships will continue to be cul- civic disciplines is lacking, and cited this as an area in tivated as IFES formulates its student-based civic need of improvement. Students appeared well in- education program for the summer and autumn. formed about the education system, but less so about the role of civil society. Students and teachers ex- KYRGYSTAN pressed a desire to know more of the mechanisms of democracy and the need for hands-on learning tech- Student Summer Camp Project in Kyrgyzstan niques. Arrangements were completed for the Student De- mocracy Summer Camp scheduled for 3-10 July at IFES collaborated with INFOREX in 1995, 1996 and Issyk-kul. Kyrgyz State National University 1998 on public opinion surveys. The final report on (KSNU), under the direction of Edyl Moldoev, was the Focus Groups represents an important prelude to selected by IFES as a co-organizer of the event. The proposing a curriculum development pilot project to agenda was finalized and participants were selected introduce a new textbook and course outlines. Pre- via a competitive examining process. While most liminary discussions with Education Department au- participants will come from the ranks of first-year thorities have already commenced. college-level students, there will also be a small group of 11th graders in attendance (the last grade in Election Reform in Kyrgyzstan the Kyrgyz high school system). The Summer Camp The Election Law Working Group (WG) was ap- will host close to 200 students, selected to represent pointed by President Askar Akayev, and consists of urban and rural areas in Kyrgyzstan, and will provide 21 members, most of whom are parliamentarians, hands-on instructional experience in conducting elec- working under CEC Chair Suleyman Imanbayev. tions and understanding electoral laws and practices. The WG is to review the Election Code and recom- The Camp will encourage students to take an active mend changes addressing the problems which marred interest in community involvement through exposure the 2000 Kyrgyz parliamentary elections. The CEC to the concepts of civil society and volunteerism. As expects to conclude their review of suggestions and many of the students from the university level repre- present their report by mid-July. The WG will then sent educational faculties, the Camp will challenge prepare a report of recommendations to parliament. them to evaluate and access materials being used to IFES continues to meet with CEC and WG represen- teach civics and citizenship classes in high schools tatives to discuss changes to the code that would im- colleges. Summer Camp students will introduce what prove election administration. they learned at their respective universities in the Fall and talk further about introducing civic education Training for Oblast Election Officials (based on their experiences at the Camp) into secon- IFES Project Manager Ched Flego assisted the Cen- dary schools and communities back in their local vil- tral Election Commission with the training of selected lages. Oblast and City of Bishkek election administrators as the first training project in the lead up to the presiden- As a follow-up project, select students will instruct tial elections. These officials will become the trainers high school students in pilot schools in how to con- of the Rayon elections commissions, who will in turn duct mock election campaigns, which are proposed to train the Precinct officials. In conjunction with the take place in parallel with the Kyrgyz Presidential UNDP and OSCE, IFES has proposed to continue elections. support and assistance of the CEC in this training program. It is hopes a wider training program it is Focus Group Project in Kyrgyzstan hoped will result in more effective control of the Pre- Working in a contractual partnership with IFES, IN- cinct election committee’s work on polling day. FOREX Survey Research Group Director Dr.

Page 20 Impact Summary a Round Table discussion with local representatives IFES’ work in June has been aimed at increasing the of political parties at the Lakhuti Theater in Kurghon- professionalization of election administration, the Teppa, Khatlon Oblast. Griffin traveled to Kurghon- transparency of the election process, and the civic Teppa and Dusti to evaluate the development of po- education of students in the Republic. IFES has fo- litical parties in the post-election period. With acade- cused on providing professional assistance to the mician Asherboi Imomov moderating the discussion, CEC including the updating of poll-worker manuals, citizens were given an opportunity to ask questions of voter education posters and training. In the post par- representatives of six parties, leaders of Viloyat and liamentary election period IFES has supported the district hukumats (local government), deputies of the review of the election code with suggested changes Majlisi Oli from this region, and representatives of complying with international standards, augmented societies and public organizations such as the by the training of staff. Through activities such as the “Women’s Committee” were invited to this forum. Summer Camp, the focus groups, and the civic educa- Representatives of foreign, international, Tajik cen- tion curriculum development proposal, IFES efforts tral and regional newspapers, radio and TV were also are increasingly being directed at assisting NGO de- invited. velopment and introducing democratic practices to a younger generation of voters and citizens. While the party representatives took time to discuss their overall platforms, the audience pressed for more TAJIKISTAN information on concrete issues of local interest. Questions included the existence of factions within Focus Group Research Completed the Majlisi Oli and laws proposed to improve the eco- IFES’ local NGO partner, SHARQ, completed work nomic situation in the country. Many participant pres- on a series of 12 Focus Groups involving teachers entations began with the outlining of problems in and students of 11th grade civics classes. The Focus Khatlon Oblast such as: suspended enterprises, unem- Groups were conducted as part of an IFES initiative ployment, decrease of cotton yield, poor living stan- to propose and develop a textbook on civics and de- dards and education and medical issues. The event mocracy for possible inclusion in a pilot civic educa- allowed for a candid exchange of viewpoints, and tion course for 11th grade students in Tajikistan. Em- was hailed as a model to be emulated for future fo- pirical data on the level of satisfaction with current rums. courses and materials on civics, democracy, governance, elections and civil society was required to dem- Philip Griffin traveled to Dusti, in southern Khatlon onstrate the need for the proposed project. Results Oblast, to meet with local party representatives and from the research, conducted in Leninabad Oblast, assess the current political and local governmental Dushanbe city, and Khatlon Oblast, revealed that, situation. A round table discussion among party rep- while students and teachers alike have a favorable resentatives was proposed for future consideration. view of democracy, there lacked sufficient information on “modern” democracy and the rights of citi- Women’s Gender Inequality Conference zens. Respondents also did not have a understanding IFES partnered with the Dushanbe-based NGO Tradi- of what non-governmental organizations are or what tions and Modernity to conduct a conference titled function they play in society. Inadequate knowledge “Gender Inequality in Politics: Lessons of the 2000 of the election system was also demonstrated. The Elections and Strategies for the Future.” The one-day results clearly showed that a curriculum project in- event included 36 participants from the parliament, volving introduction of a textbook and course outline presidential apparat, international organizations, mass would have high use value, and IFES worked in June media and women’s advocacy organizations. Three to informally share the idea with key members of the major issues were discussed at the event: the role of Majlisi Namoyandagon, presidential apparat and oth- the state and civil society in increasing women’s leaders prior to making a formal proposal to the Ministry ership; the participation of women in elections; and of Education. Reaction in preliminary discussions the role of political parties in granting opportunities has been positive. SHARQ also provided IFES with for women’s participation. A series of recommenda- photos, transcripts and audio/video materials from the tions for increasing women’s involvement and repre- conducting of the Focus Groups. sentation in the political process were established, as well as a series of suggestions on how to generate Political Party Round Table interest among women to be active in civil society. A IFES/Tajikistan Political Party Consultant Philip draft of the final list of recommendations was sent to Griffin, cooperating with the OSCE field mission, led government representatives, mass media, and private

Page 21 organizations. Further follow-up discussions were Groups designed to provide information on the cur- planned with those in attendance, which reflects the rent state of civic education in 11th grade classes, with commitment of the government and private organiza- the goal of eventually introducing a hands-on pilot tions to actively promote women in the political and project for students at this level as part of a new focus social sphere. on civic education. IFES continued in June to support women’s advocacy and generate an audience for IFES met with the Tajik NGO Law and Democracy women’s issues among members of parliament and Center, the First Press Club, and members of the Ma- the executive apparat. jlisi Namoyandagon to discuss producing a series of interviews with deputies in the parliament as informa- UZBEKISTAN tional sources for viewers. The viewers would have an opportunity to phone the television studio during a Democracy Summer Camp Scheduled for July live broadcast and pose questions to the deputies, IFES/Uzbekistan staff, along with local NGO part- who would be selected each week. ners, finalized plans for a Students Democracy Sum- mer Camp scheduled for 17-24 July, 2000 at the Oltin In a separate project, IFES and SHARQ discussed Dan Conference Center in Karakalpakstan. IFES rep- plans to produce a “Who’s Who” manual for both the resentatives led a coordination team that focused on new Majlisi Oli and the Government of Tajikistan to the development of a detailed action plan for the serve as reference manuals for constituents, foreign Summer Camp, including the selection of student, organizations and ordinary citizens. The reference teacher and NGO participants, the organization of a manuals would include contact information, personal training program, and creation of a mechanism to profiles, and other pertinent information for easy ac- monitor student activity and development once the cess by the reader. camp concludes.

Election Adjudication Conference During the week-long camp, the participants, includ- Three representatives from Tajikistan participated in ing teachers and students from Karakalpakstan, Buk- a Conference on the “Adjudication of Electoral Dis- hara and Kokand, will be involved in a series of lec- putes” that took place in Yerimcha, Ukraine. Deputy tures, discussions, and hands-on activities concentrat- Justice Israilov of the Supreme Court was joined by ing on issues such as human, political and economic Judges Rakhmonov (Dushanbe) and Kalendarova rights, the role of the citizen in a democratic society, (Khojand) at the event. They were joined by col- civic responsibility and activism, and improving per- leagues from other CIS and Eastern European coun- sonal communication and leadership skills. The Nu- tries to share experience and lessons learned in the kus-based NGOs “Shagali” and “Wild Nature of the resolution of electoral complaints and violations their Aral Sea Region” will conduct workshops on the In- respective countries. Deputy Justice Israilov brought ternational Convention on the Rights of the Child and samples of Tajikistani legislation to share, and pre- on ecological problems in Karakalpakstan, two topics sented the Adjudication Manual developed by IFES of particular relevance. In addition to the lecture and for use in the Majlisi Oli elections of February 2000. discussion activities, students will conduct an abbre- The three returned to Tajikistan with new ideas to be viated presidential election campaign, whereby par- shared with other colleagues, and a sense of partner- ticipants will play the roles of political party candi- ship with judges from other countries. IFES is in the dates and leaders, media representatives and election process of following up with these and other judges, commission officials. The election activities will cul- in partnership with the ABA, to determine how com- minate in a mock election, to be held on the fifth day plaints stemming from the February elections were of the camp. Representatives from the U.S. Agency ultimately resolved in the legal system. IFES and for International Development (USAID), the U.S. ABA sponsored a series of regional discussions with Embassy, and other international organizations oper- judges on election issues prior to the elections. ating in Uzbekistan have been invited to serve in the capacity of “election observers” on Election Day. Impact Summary IFES worked in June to promote dialogue among po- Civic Education Curriculum litical parties on a regional basis and encourage them IFES continued work on a textbook as part of the 11th to be responsive to constituents by providing greater grade civic education curriculum pilot project to be one-on-one access in round table formats. With the launched in September 2000. After identifying four understanding of the democratic process being such a pilot schools to participate in the curriculum project, pertinent theme, IFES and SHARQ completed Focus IFES began preliminary organization of a teacher

Page 22 training seminar that will be conducted in August. share their experience and suggest general improve- Local contributors have drafted sections of the text- ments to electoral legislation with the intent of estab- book on the history, political system and voting prac- lishing more consistent and clear procedures. tices of Karakalpakstan. In July, the textbook will be translated into Karakalpak and Russian, with an It is IFES’ hope that the open discussions of the con- Uzbek edition coming out later. Printing is expected ference will help participants more clearly define to commence in late July. their role and responsibilities in the electoral process, and upon return to their respective countries, they IFES anticipates that the curriculum will be consid- will initiate a dialogue with other actors in the proc- ered for inclusion into the mainstream curriculum of ess to reach a consensus on acceptable procedures Karakalpakstan after the pilot project has been com- and their implementation. By familiarizing judges pleted. In addition to the curriculum, IFES has pro- with their role, IFES helps to ensure that judges are posed to sponsor a network of Student Action Com- better prepared to meet their constitutional obligation mittees (SACs) during the Fall 2000 semester to al- and act independently. As the judiciary in many of low students hands-on experience in addressing prob- the countries represented at the conference strives to lems of local concern with elected officials. Prelimi- establish its credibility as an independent body, stan- nary discussions have been held outlining additional dardized application of the law assists in increasing areas of potential cooperation between educators, lo- the public’s confidence in the courts as an effective cal officials and NGOs on these civic education pro- and impartial branch of the government. jects.

Impact Summary In June IFES focused its efforts on civic education, yielding the potential for sustainable impact. The Democracy Summer Camp will help to increase the civic education of 11th grade students, encourage cooperation between local NGOs, educational institutions and governmental bodies, and promote the professionalism of participating teachers. Both the Sum- mer Camp project and the civic education curriculum will assist in increasing the civic awareness activities and education of young persons, thereby instilling in them a sense of civic responsibility. Monitoring will allow further analysis of how effective such programs Judge Bohdan Futey, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, is inter- are, a necessary component for improving results and viewed by the local television station in Ivano-Frankivsk be- providing critical feedback. fore departing for the international conference "Election Dis- pute Resolution: Global Perspectives." ELECTION DISPUTE RESOLUTION: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES This international conference on resolving election disputes was a first step in developing a more effi- (continued from page 1) cient legal culture for elections. IFES hopes that sub- sequent training programs will increase the level of Impact Summary professionalism among judges at all levels and ensure Through this conference, IFES assisted in the that procedures are applied consistently throughout strengthening of the electoral process by providing a the country and at all jurisdictional levels. The recog- forum for discussion and exchange among high-level nition and application of standard procedures contrib- judges from Central and Eastern Europe and the utes to the development of a strong electoral system Newly Independent States. Many of these countries that protects the expression of the people’s will while are facing similar challenges in addressing the resolu- increasing public confidence in the process and the tion of election disputes. Several of the participating judiciary. countries have recently held elections, and the conference provided an opportunity for these judges to

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IFES/Washington E & E Staff:

Scott R. Lansell, Director

([email protected])

Steve Connolly, Senior Advisor ([email protected])

International Foundation for Election Systems Phylis Greenfield, Senior Advisor 1101 15th Street, NW ([email protected]) Third Floor Washington, D.C. 20005 Michael Conway, Senior Program Officer Tel. (202) 828-8507 ([email protected]) Fax (202) 452-0804 www.ifes.org Alexander T. Knapp, Senior Program Officer ([email protected])

IFES provides technical assistance in the promotion of Anthony C. Bowyer, Program Officer democracy worldwide and serves as a clearinghouse ([email protected]) for information about democratic development and elections. Since its inception in 1987, the Foundation Alexandra Levaditis, Program Officer has pursued democratic initiatives in more than 120 ([email protected]) countries worldwide. IFES activities are made possible, in part, by the U.S. Agency for International De- Dana Beegun, Program Officer velopment. ([email protected])

PLEASE VISIT THE IFES Matthew Curtis, Senior Program Assistant ([email protected]) WWW PAGES AT: Maggie McDonough, Program Assistant ACEEEO: ([email protected]) www.aceeeo.com Chad Vickery, Program Assistant Armenia: ([email protected]) www.ifes.am Irina Zaslavskaya, Program Assistant ([email protected]) Bosnia: www.oscebih.org Carrie Ellis, Program Assistant ([email protected]) Georgia: www.ifes.ge Sonia Pastuhov-Pastein, Program Assistant ([email protected]) Russia: www.ifes.ru Nathan Rudisill, Program Assistant ([email protected])

IESD (Russia): Josh Abrams, Intern www.democracy.ru ([email protected])

Ukraine: Andrew Rowe, Intern www.ifes-ukraine.org ([email protected]) www.ifes.kiev.ua Kathy Vittum, Intern Election Compendium: ([email protected]) www.essex.ac.uk/elections

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