On the International Day of Democracy, held on Sept. 15, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) will celebrate the work of our local partners and staff to build and advance resilient democracies, as well as review and raise awareness of both the bright spots and threats to democracy around the world. Ahead of the day, here are some ways our offices and local partners around the world sprang into action this past year: 

• The IFES Tunisia office piloted summer Democracy Camps for high-school students. Check out how campers are learning about democratic values and leadership skills. 
• USAID featured the work and advocacy of Sofiia Petriv, winner of IFES Ukraine’s DemVision competition, to protect Ukraine’s forests and environment.  
• Political party members in Ecuador united for gender equality, widening and growing their perspectives and advocacy on creating more equitable parties and participation. 
• After the Expert Forum in Romania advocated for more government transparency, the Romanian government published more data about public development spending. 

SAVE THE DATE: 2023 IFES CHARLES T. MANATT DEMOCRACY AWARDS DINNER

IFES will present its 2023 Charles T. Manatt Democracy Award posthumously to Judith Heumann, widely respected as the mother of the disability rights movement. Judy embodies IFES’s vision of democracy for a better future, as she devoted her life and career to advancing the rights of people with disabilities in government, philanthropy, international development, culture, and business. Join us on Oct. 17 as we honor Judy Heumann at The Reach at The Kennedy Center. 

RSVP: INCLUSIVENESS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

On International Democracy Day, IFES’s global gender adviser Regina Waugh will speak on a panel at the United Nations headquarters about inclusive democracy, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the forthcoming UN summit on Sustainable Development Goals. 

Register here by Sept. 12.

SPOTLIGHT: RUSSIA'S 'ELECTIONS' IN OCCUPIED UKRAINE ARE A CHARADE

“There will be nothing free or fair about next month’s regional and municipal ‘elections’ in the Donbas – they are being stage-managed purely for propaganda purposes.” 

Writing about the four ‘elections’ that Russia plans to stage in the Donbas on Sept. 10, IFES Ukraine’s senior country director Peter Erben and international senior adviser Harald Hartvig Jepsen say that people should not be fooled or mistaken by these illegal and illegitimate elections. 

Read more in Politico EU.

The Voice is a monthly newsletter from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) that keeps you informed about elections worldwide and how IFES is advancing democracy for a better future. Get this newsletter sent directly to your inbox by subscribing here. 

To stay up to date with the latest news and blog posts from IFES, visit ifes.org. To keep track of upcoming elections, visit IFES’s electionguide.org.