Full Coverage: Democracy

30.09.2005 Write to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urging him to support a move for the UN Security Council to intervene in Myanmar (Burma) in support of democracy and the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience.

30.09.2005 Fears are growing in Uganda that the country is once again heading for dictatorship and misrule.

20.09.2005 Afghanistan’s parliamentary and provincial council elections escaped large-scale violence, but voter turn-out was unexpectedly low, raising concerns about the elections’ ability to promote stability.

20.09.2005 Gujarat women who have been affected due to the withholding of funds by the state government have petitioned the government and urged it to release UN funds meant for rehabilitating women affected by the 2001 earthquake. The government had stopped funds to SEWA citing financial irregularities and many other allegations.

19.09.2005 Afghanistan's elections passed quietly Sunday with only isolated incidents of violence, but voters faced the daunting task of picking their chosen candidate out of 400 on the ballot, as well as an unfamiliar and complex voting process.

19.09.2005 As the Palestinian struggle for equal rights faces a crossroads, a new strategy to secure recognition of equality for all within Israel might lead the way toward a more democratic and secular country, says Todd May.

19.09.2005 Janitor Han Lin is a democracy activist who fled from Burma, lived in the jungle for 6 years, and finally found refuge in the U.S. He talks about his experiences, his determined attempts to raise awareness about the atrocities in his homeland, and U.N. false promises.

16.09.2005 Some candidates are struck off the ballot sheet for technical infractions, while others with alleged links to violence remain in the running.

16.09.2005 Establishing a parliament is a key step on the road to a stable democracy, but Afghanistan's citizens and candidates have faced serious hurdles throughout the electoral process that will culminate in this weekend's elections, explains Institute for War and Peace Reporting journalists across the country.

15.09.2005 The newly-established United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) got a big boost from two of the world's largest democracies when United States President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh co-sponsored a fund-raising event on the margins of the World Summit.

14.09.2005 France-based media organisation Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Nepalese government for blocking access to the website of Gorkha News on 9 September. Everest World Limited, which edits the site, said it has been censored because of “its stand against curbs on the Nepalese press."

13.09.2005 With Afghanistan's first-ever parliamentary elections next week, many regular Afghans want the government to provide security at polling centers and withdraw candidates who are known war criminals, shows a survey by CARE.

09.09.2005 With Cote d'Ivoire rebel forces barring presidential elections from being conducted in areas under their hold, and with the Independent Electoral Commission yet to be set up, U.N. envoy to the region, Antonio Monteiro, announced Thursday that holding the elections on October 30 would be "almost impossible."

07.09.2005 The latest draft of the Iraq constitution, tacitly influenced by the U.S., is heavily based on a neo-liberal economic model, which will serve primarily as a wish-list for international investors, rather than protecting and safeguarding the people of Iraq, says Herbert Docena.

06.09.2005 Citizens of Serbia should organize actions to force the Government to speed up the process of adoption of New Constitution, said Zoran Lutovac to “Dnevnik” daily from Novi Sad, and added that the citizens not only have the right, but it is desirable for them to take active participation in the constitutional process.

06.09.2005 The Mjaft! Movement planted an oak sapling in front of the main entrance of Albanian Parliament yesterday, to protest the reinforcement of the so-called “Dushku” phenomenon that completely distorted and puts the results of the General Elections of July 3 at risk. (Dushk means oak in Albania).

05.09.2005 According to the Monitoring Mission of the Roma Lobby Group Coalition (RLG), the Second Round of the Extraordinary Local Elections for Mayor of Suto Orizari municipality was concluded peacefully, in accordance with the Law.

02.09.2005 Two weeks before parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, tens of thousands of observers are set to monitor the internationally-supported poll, the joint UN-Afghan electoral body announced.

02.09.2005 Pakistan was recently selected to host the World Social Forum in 2006, leaving analysts asking whether a country ruled by a dictatorship is the rightful place for the meeting which is a democratic gathering of civil society organizations.

01.09.2005 A number of legal and political experts believe that most Iraqis will vote for the constitution in a referendum later this year, despite Sunni politicians’ opposition to the charter.