Political leaders, a chief election manager and representatives of an independent corruption-investigation commission in Iraq visited IFES on March 8 for a discussion of electoral processes in the United States.

The visit was part of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program, which brought the nine Iraqi officials to Washington for almost three weeks to explore government transparency and public-sector corruption issues. It was the second group of program participants from Iraq to visit IFES in two weeks.

IFES Program Coordinator Brianna Hiser, Program Officer Vassia Stoilov and Program Associate Steven Westervelt of the Middle East and North Africa Division led the Iraqi group in an overview and discussion of the United States electoral system. They covered topics such as election law, registration practices and variation in the voting processes among the 50 states.

The trio also fielded questions from the Iraqi visitors, who included the director general of Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission and several leaders of the Commission on Integrity, an independent body within the Iraqi government formed to investigate corruption.

The visit was sponsored by the Graduate School’s International Institute. All of the participants were visiting the United States for the first time.

On March 1, IFES hosted a separate group of Iraqi public officials and civil society leaders for a similar discussion as part of the International Visitor Leadership Program. That group included press officers for local and national government offices, leaders of human rights and nongovernmental organizations, and a deputy provincial governor.