The mission of this new initiative is to promote democracy around the world and to increase our portfolio of activities from election monitoring to working with countries before, during, and after elections, according to GDI’s new President, Leo Duguay, who is also president of the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians.

‘We have come together to offer our substantial and diverse legislative expertise to help nations build and maintain governments based on the rule of law and transparency,” Duguay said.

“Through our Canadian, American, and European legislators’ experience, we are confident that we can make a real difference in nations struggling to foster true democratic principles and institutions.”

Pete Weichlein, Chief Executive Officer of USAFMC, said that GDI’s international former legislators donate their time, and receive no fee for their service.

“We’ re thrilled that what was simply an election monitoring effort has turned into such a dynamic, international program and we are proud to be a partner,” said Weichlein. ” By bundling the efforts and expertise of the three founding organizations into one common purpose outreach, we expect GDI to become a sought-after democracy-building partner,” Weichlein concluded.

Weichlein said former legislators from his Association, as well as their Canadian and European counterparts, have participated in such democracy building activities as election monitoring, post-democracy building work, and the placement of trained legislators in existing missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Kenya, and many other nations.

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On election day, 7 September, the international delegation deployed to 12 regions in the country and visited 375 polling stations.

In addition, observers participated in briefings and meetings before election day to ascertain the political and legal climate in which the Moroccan electorate could cast their votes.

Meeting participants included representatives of political parties, government officials, candidates, civic leaders, domestic observers, electoral authorities, representatives of the international and domestic media, and voters. IEMI members participated in drafting NDI’s preliminary statement as well as its final report. The participation of former legislators was deemed extremely helpful in identifying specific recommendations which the Moroccan government could implement to further improve its electoral process.

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The goal of the training sessions was to help the representatives of each party in their efforts to better plan the organization of the next election. By sharing their experiences, the IEMI team was able to assist in the parties’ quest for short-term and long-term goals, as well as in identifying their strengths, weaknesses and opportunities.

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The delegations were deployed in February and March 2006, in preparation for the elections held on 26 March 2006. Focusing primarily on the Kharkiv oblast, the delegations met with local government officials, mass media representatives, political party representatives, candidates, NGOs, and individuals interested or involved in the election process. Both delegations delivered a unified message to officials, politicians, the media and others about the importance of free and fair campaigns and elections.

To this day, Ukraine is still working toward becoming a fully democratic society, but has made great strides thanks to the attention of both international and local observers before, during, and after each election cycle.

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