Rafael López-Pintor, a pioneer in the democracy promotion movement who has helped improve the electoral systems of more than twenty countries, is the winner of IFES' Joe C. Baxter Award. The annual award pays tribute to professionals whose work epitomizes the mission of IFES—to promote citizen participation, transparency, and accountability in political life and civil society.
López-Pintor made these comments about winning the award:
“From a professional standpoint, I feel that this is the first time in my career that I have received such an acknowledgement of my work. It is nice that IFES is recognizing the hard work, dedication and persistence that effective people in this field must have. It is not that I crave awards or recognition. It is just touching to see that an organization has the sensitivity to acknowledge hard work and perseverance.
“From a personal point of view, it is very moving that I was chosen from among my colleagues, all of which are such hard workers. It is especially meaningful that I was given an award named after Joe Baxter. Joe had incredible vision and skill. He was an individual that one could not help but admire. He not only was a consummate professional, he fully believed in what he was doing, and he infused his work with that passion.
“Joe and I had the opportunity to work together in Abuja, Nigeria. We were doing some post-election capacity-building following the 1999 election. This was in the aftermath of the dictatorship of Sani Abacha. It was a very difficult time in Nigeria. The work that Joe and I had in Nigeria was not easy. Yet every night at the end of a long day, we would meet in the hotel’s pool. As we drank a beer, we would exchange our views about what had taken place during the day. Sometimes we were optimistic, at others, we were not as much, but we always kept our sense of humor. It was refreshing to sit with Joe and laugh at the end of the day, no matter how difficult the work had been.
“The image of me sitting with Joe by a swimming pool drinking a beer may not be the most heroic of images. It is a very simple image. But it is such a joyful image. Joe was fantastic human being. He had a great outlook on life, and he was great to work with.
“Hearing that I won this award at the U.S. Capitol was also very meaningful to me. The very first talk that I was asked to give on democracy was at the U.S. Capitol in 1983. I was part of a panel of five people who were speaking about democratization. The Berlin Wall had not yet fallen, but we were already envisioning that things were going to change. Who would have thought that 26 years later I would be in the same building receiving an award for my life’s work?
“Back then, I was a much younger person with many hopes and dreams, and I can honesty say that those hopes still remain. The fact is I would not hesitate to do everything all over again a thousand times over. Life can sometimes be hard, and in this field of democracy promotion, there are often many hurdles, but it is such a worthy struggle. Fighting for democracy, which is fighting for justice, civil rights, human rights, freedom, is always worth the battle. When we fight for these principles we are also fighting for the recognition that each human being matters. The world will never be perfect, but it is much better when the value of a human being is not diminished. It is these ideas that make life brighter, so if we ever stop fighting for them, the world becomes dimmer.
“We should never fall under the illusion that we can stop fighting for democracy. Democracy is like a garden that must always be watered and weeded if it is to remain alive. Even the most mature, stable democracies cannot stop striving for these ideals. If they do, they will sink back away from them.
"In many ways, Joe and I shared the same idealism, the same optimism about the world. It is an honor to receive an award with his name."