Emerging democracies often lack the institutional capacity and political will to manage elections or educate their citizens about democratic politics. To meet these needs, IFES provides comprehensive assistance to governments, political parties and civil society organizations in election planning and administration, electoral law development, and voter education. IFES seeks to bring transparency to elections by involving civil society in the process (in observer training, negotiations with national election commissions, etc.) and by incorporating anti-fraud mechanisms, such as political finance instruments, transparent ballot boxes, or inking voters’ fingers.

Since 1987, IFES has accumulated abundant election-related experience by offering these services in scores of countries, including numerous pre-election technical assessments, onsite technical assistance programs, poll-worker training, equipment procurements, and voter registration and education programs. Over time, we have built a cadre of more than 1,500 democracy and governance experts capable of addressing almost any election situation.