The Carter Center also will send a small group of experts for an informal presence on election day to interview political actors and voters around the country, but not enter voting centers. Following the election, the Center will publish a report for the international community about Venezuelan perceptions of the electoral process and the results.

In August, The Carter Center declined an invitation from the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) to field a technical expert delegation to assess the automated voting system and accompany the elections because the invitation was received too late to organize the necessary experts and financing. The CNE has not invited international observation missions since 2006.

“The most important role in monitoring any electoral process belongs to the national citizens, including the political parties, national observer organizations, and the voters themselves,” said Jennifer McCoy, director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program. “Voters can participate in the verification of the electronic vote counts on election night when the paper receipts are counted, national observer groups are organizing to monitor election day, and the political campaigns are expected to field party witnesses in each voting site. Local universities and NGOs are monitoring campaign conditions and media access during the campaign. The Carter Center will use all of this information, in addition to interviews, in its report.”

Since 1998, The Carter Center has observed four elections and referendums in Venezuela.

A voter tests the fingerprint identification system during an Aug. 5 election simulation in Venezuela.
(Photo: J. McCoy/Carter Center)

Campaign posters for opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski mark the beginning
of the presidential election campaign in Caracas, Venezuela, in June 2012.  Capriles has promised to continue popular social programs and to make government more efficient. (Photo: N. Friedman-Rudovsky/Carter Center)

The barrios of Caracas, Venezuela are some of the most dangerous in Latin America and a bastion of support for President Hugo Chavez. Chavez has vowed to tackle Caracas’ persistent housing problem, pledging to provide all citizens with dignified housing before the end of his potential next presidential term. (Photo: N. Friedman-Rudovsky/Carter Center)

A man reads the newspaper in Caracas. Venezuelan society and the media are extremely polarized, and
The Carter Center is encouraging less partisan and more professional media reporting on Venezuela’s electoral process through a series of workshops ahead of the country’s Oct. 7 presidential election. These workshops offer one of the few spaces where journalists from diverse media participate together in the polarized society. Read more about the Carter Center’s efforts. (Photo: N. Friedman-Rudovsky/Carter Center)

A group of former leaders and human rights experts serve as a watchdog to threats against democratic stability in the Americas and as a voice to strengthen, promote, and protect democracy and human rights. The group aims to bolster the effectiveness of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, approved on Sept. 11, 2001, by all 34 members of the OAS to address new kinds of democratic threats beyond the traditional military coup.

Friends have conducted key missions to Nicaragua, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Honduras.

As the tenth anniversary of this important document is celebrated, the Friends of the Inter-American Democratic Charter will meet at The Carter Center, which serves as secretariat for the group, to discuss potential new areas for involvement and ways to strengthen the Charter’s implementation.

Photo credit: Carter Center/D. Hakes
The Carter Center observed Nicaragua’s November 2006 elections. Friends of the Inter-American Democratic Charter member and former Panama President Nicolás Ardito Barletta (above), who served as co-leader of the observation mission, talks with voters at a polling station.

“The Charter is one of the most advanced regional democracy commitments in the world,” said Marcelo Varela, associate director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program. “It makes democracy a human right of citizens and provides an instrument for the collective promotion and defense of democracy. Some say the Charter lacks teeth because it isn’t a treaty; it’s not enforceable. But that is actually its strength – its moral value. It was a sign of goodwill on the part of governments when it was created 10 years ago.”

Members of the general public can learn more by attending Conversations at The Carter Center on Oct. 13, from 7-8:30 p.m. (EDT) at the Center, when several members of the Friends of the Democratic Charter will discuss the state of democracy in the Americas and the Charter’s reach. The panel will feature the Right Honourable Joe Clark, former prime minister of Canada; Eduardo Stein, former vice president of Guatemala; and Mariclaire Acosta, former undersecretary of foreign relations for human rights and democracy of Mexico.  Jennifer McCoy will moderate. (Make your free reservations here.)

The Friends’ quiet diplomacy led to a Friend being named special representative of the OAS, a mediated resolution to the Nicaragua crisis, and subsequent observation of the elections.

Formed in 2004, the Friends have conducted assessment missions to Nicaragua, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Honduras. They have provided private assessments to the OAS secretary general and other hemispheric officials, recommendations to the OAS General Assembly, and public statements to raise awareness about specific events affecting democracy and human rights in the hemisphere.

The first mission of the Friends was to Nicaragua in 2005 when the legislature threatened to impeach the president in a political dispute. The Friends’ quiet diplomacy led to a Friend being named special representative of the OAS, a mediated resolution to the Nicaragua crisis, and subsequent observation of the elections.

Photo credit: Carter Center/D. Evans
The first mission of the Friends was to Nicaragua in 2005, when the legislature threatened to impeach the president in a political dispute.

In 2009, the Friends sent a delegation to Honduras after the military forced then-President Zelaya into exile. They urged a political solution before the national elections and recommended to The Carter Center not to observe the elections without such an agreement. Efforts by the Friends also contributed to a balanced resolution, with the General Assembly of the OAS calling for the immediate and unconditional reinstatement of President Zelaya to comply with his constitutional obligations.

Photo credit: Carter Center/D. Hakes
Carter Center Americas Program Director Jennifer McCoy speaks during a March 2010 meeting of the Friends of the Inter-American Democratic Charter in Atlanta.

“After Honduras, the entire hemisphere united for the first time to soundly reject the idea that the military could remove an elected official by force no matter what the offence,” said Jennifer McCoy. “The challenge now is for the hemisphere to learn to use the Democratic Charter to also defend democratic principles when they are threatened by nonmilitary actors, whether that is a president abusing power, a court or legislature threatening a president, or social actors inciting violence or unconstitutional acts. The Carter Center hopes to continue to strengthen the Charter through the Friends as we face the challenges ahead.”

To address this problem, the Carter Center-sponsored Andean-U.S. Dialogue Forum created a working group of media professionals to promote a deeper understanding of the role of the media in inter-country relations.

“These meetings have brought together journalists and media professionals with very different perspectives,” said Dr. Jennifer McCoy, director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program, “We’ve had enriching debates and developed an awareness of the need for improved media coverage.”

The working group provides an informal space for media professionals to share specific challenges they face in their own countries, analyze media coverage, and discuss ways to advance professional reporting practices.

Members from Colombia, Venezuela, and the United States met in June 2011 at The Carter Center for their fourth meeting. Hear from participants about the group’s impact.

Click image below to watch video.

The Second Meeting of the Andean-U.S. Dialogue Forum was held in Lima, Peru on June 1-2, 2010. Here, a plenary session is held on day one.

Dr. Jennifer McCoy, director of the Carter Center’s Americas Program, and Kristen Sample, head of the Andean mission at International IDEA (www.idea.int), opened the proceedings and welcomed the participants on behalf of the forum’s coordinating organizations. Also addressing the forum was Ambassador Néstor Popolizio, Peru’s vice minister of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Popolizio gave a warm welcome from Peru President Alan Garcia and extolled the benefits of the forum and the work of its members.

Representatives from each of the five Andean countries (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia) and the United States updated the group on the current political, economic, and cultural environment of their respective nation. Forum members from each country reported on topics of transnational importance and engaged in spirited and thoughtful discussion on which items were most critical as the group moved toward a common agenda.

Members of the integrated development working group discuss projects for phase two of the forum.

Both days featured new working group sessions that were begun in the first plenary meeting in Atlanta in February. During the sessions, which covered areas like development, democracy, human rights, and media, topics for action were discussed and projects chosen for the second phase of the forum. International synergy was on full display as the merits and relative importance of the proposed projects were debated and approved.

Each working group presented results in a plenary session before closing at the end of the first day.

Spirits were high at the close of the meeting and a statement of common purpose was formally adopted by 23 Forum members from all six countries. The next immediate steps for the forum will be for pairs of U.S. members to undertake trips to each of the Andean countries in July and August to further understand the realities in these countries.  The third plenary meeting of the forum will be held this fall in Washington, D.C.

Read more about the Andean-U.S. Forum.

The speakers are part of the Friends of the Democratic Charter, a group of former presidents, prime ministers, and Cabinet ministers from the Western Hemisphere who seek to increase the visibility of the Inter-American Democratic Charter and to prevent democratic tensions from erupting into crises. The Friends visit countries to assess democratic tensions, encourage citizens and governments to make use of international resources to defend their democracies and resolve constitutional conflicts, and recommend ways for the OAS to apply the charter in a constructive and preventative manner. The Carter Center serves as secretariat for the Friends.

The GSU event is free and open to the public, and takes place from 3-7 p.m. at GSU’s Rialto theater. For more information, Georgia State University public forum flyer (PDF).

Listen to Jennifer McCoy discuss the significance of the GSU event.

Click image below to watch video.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter addresses the group gathered at The Carter Center for the first Andean-U.S. Dialogue Forum as Jennifer McCoy, director of the Center's Americas Program, looks on.

The project is co-sponsored by The Carter Center and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) and consists of a series of informal dialogues to provide crucial grounding, support, and reinforcement of diplomatic efforts through a civil society process. For the next 18 months, the group will form personal relationships as they learn and share proposals in dialogue sessions provided during trips to the United States and to the Andean region.

The group will emerge from this first session with next steps to address the critical issues of regional security, ideological divides, broken diplomatic relations, and other shared concerns.

Kristen Sample, head of mission for the Andean countries at International IDEA, asks a question of President Carter at the Andean-U.S. Dialogue Forum at The Carter Center.

Francisco Diez, Carter Center/IDEA consultant, explains the agenda and goals to the approximately 40 forum participants.