Electoral Management
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) works to capture, develop and share knowledge on effective electoral management and leadership as key factors in achieving credible electoral environments that contribute to good governance, stability and development. Electoral management entails effectively organizing a high quality election process. Electoral leadership is the ability to project and inspire competence, productivity, ethical behavior and trust. IFES uses a range of tools to achieve these objectives, including: in-depth assessments, research and lessons-learned exercises; evidence-based assistance to election management bodies; visionary electoral reform and strategic/operational planning; genuine collaboration between all key electoral stakeholders; and, progressive capacity-building on all of the above disciplines to strengthen current and future electoral leaders.
Related Experts See All IFES Experts
Vice President, Programs
Principal Advisor, IFES, and Senior Country Director, Ukraine
Senior Global Advisor, Electoral Operations and Administration
Related Content
24 Jul 2018 | Publication
Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold general elections on July 30, which may be the foundation for a new political era. Violence Against Women in Elections in Zimbabwe: An IFES Assessment demonstrates...
23 Jul 2018 | Election FAQ
On July 30, Zimbabwean citizens went to the polls for general elections. Former President Robert Mugabe resigned in November 2017 after 37 years in office, and this major political transition raised...
20 Jul 2018 | Election FAQ
On July 29, Mali held a presidential election, the country's fifth democratic presidential election since the introduction of multiparty politics in 1991. To help you understand this...
16 Jul 2018 | News and Updates
On June 12, 2018, Mark Kaigwa, the CEO and founder of Nendo, joined IFES for an event, “On the Border of Truth: Defense Against Social Media Propaganda,” which featured a presentation and discussion...
11 Jul 2018 | News and Updates
From June 28-July 1, 2018, a delegation from the Haitian Provisional Electoral Council visited Mexico City to take part in the Foreign Visitors’ Information Forum – 2017-2018 Electoral Process...
10 Jul 2018 | News and Updates
Twenty-one Haitian journalists from all ten national departments were trained from June 18-19, 2018, on tools and methods of investigative journalism for approaching and reporting election-related...
6 Jul 2018 | News and Updates
Your Voice, Your Vote, Your Future is a youth civic education training program designed and supported by IFES. By supporting Myanmar’s youth to develop civic knowledge and critical thinking...
5 Jul 2018 | News and Updates
With support from the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative, in 2017 IFES built a mobile radio station ahead of Tunisia’s municipal elections on May 6, 2018, and drove it up and down the length of...
27 Jun 2018 | News and Updates
The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) manages local elections within 20 local government areas in Nigeria, serving over 6 million registered voters, the most of any state in the...
26 Jun 2018 | Election FAQ
On June 27, Indonesian citizens went to the polls to vote for governors, mayors and/or regents across 31 provinces as part of the 2018 regional head elections. To help you understand this...
25 Jun 2018 | Election FAQ
On July 1, Mexico held presidential, legislative, and local elections. To help you understand this important electoral process, IFES provides Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Elections...
13 Jun 2018 | News and Updates
Zimbabwe will hold its much-anticipated harmonized elections on July 30, when citizens will vote for president, 201 constituency seats in the National Assembly, and seats in the urban and rural local...
12 Jun 2018 | News and Updates
The issue of low representation of women among Kosovo's election staff was raised for the first time in March 2014 in IFES' report on gender breakdown of election staff in the 2013 municipal...
5 Jun 2018 | News and Updates
On May 6, 40 Kenyan youth leaders graduated from IFES' Youth Mentorship initiative as part of a youth civic and voter education project called Changamka, a Swahili word which loosely translates...
1 Jun 2018 | News and Updates
On Wednesday, May 23, Professor Nic Cheeseman joined the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) for a presentation and discussion of his new book, How to Rig an Election, which he...
30 May 2018 | News and Updates
In Kenya, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is mandated to conduct continuous voter education and in 2017, ahead of the Kenyan general elections, the IEBC set out to work...
29 May 2018 | News and Updates
On Wednesday, May 16, IFES and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) co-hosted a briefing to discuss global legislation that specifically addresses violence against women in politics (VAWIP),...
23 May 2018 | News and Updates
IFES has worked with local partner Act Change Transform (Act!) under the U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Kenya Electoral Assistance Program (KEAP) to implement a series of large-...
18 May 2018 | Publication
In March 2018, the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening assessed the status of electoral preparations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ahead of the presidential,...
17 May 2018 | Publication
A policy brief co-authored by IFES Senior Gender Specialist Dr. Gabrielle Bardall and Alliance for Peacebuilding Research Associate Emily Myers was featured in the 2018 U.S. Civil Society Working...
16 May 2018 | News and Updates
In preparation for the Sierra Leone elections on March 7, 2018, IFES launched the USAID-funded Sierra Leone Election Dialogue Series Project and worked closely with the National Electoral Commission...
14 May 2018 | Election FAQ
On May 27, Colombia held an election for the next president and vice president, which was the first presidential election to take place since the signature of the peace agreement between the...
8 May 2018 | News and Updates
The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women (SRVAW) launched a call for submissions on violence against women in politics, ahead of a special report on the topic to...
8 May 2018 | Election FAQ
On May 12, Timor-Leste held elections for all 65 seats in the National Parliament. The last parliamentary elections were held on July 22, 2017, and, despite lengthy negotiations, no party was able to...
7 May 2018 | Election FAQ
On May 12, Iraq held elections for all 329 seats in the Council of Representatives (CoR). CoR members will elect the next president from among themselves within 30 days from their first convening,...
2 May 2018 | News and Updates
IFES strongly condemns today’s attack on the Libyan High National Elections Commission (HNEC) in Tripoli. We offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and remain committed to...
26 Apr 2018 | News and Updates
The Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission (PNGEC), with the support of IFES, conducted its strategic planning process from October 2017 to March 2018 with the aim of developing its 2018-2022...
25 Apr 2018 | News and Updates
In 2011, IFES' Electoral Violence Education and Resolution (EVER) methodology found that women were rarely the subjects of political violence in the Maldives – less than 2 percent of violent...
25 Apr 2018 | News and Updates
From March 1 to 4, IFES worked with Libya’s Ministry of Education to train more than 30 Libyan teachers across the country to use and implement a new civic education curriculum for students in grades...
23 Apr 2018 | Election FAQ
On May 6, Tunisia held municipal elections to fill 7,212 council seats in 350 electoral constituencies, which were the first held since the 2011 popular uprising that ousted President Zine El...
16 Apr 2018 | News and Updates
In 2017, record numbers of Nepali voters turned out to vote in local, provincial and national level elections to elect 35,000 Local Council representatives, including mayors and deputy mayors, 550...
16 Apr 2018 | Election FAQ
On April 22, Paraguayan citizens headed to the polls to vote for national and local authorities. To help you understand this important electoral process, IFES provides Frequently Asked Questions...
13 Apr 2018 | News and Updates
With presidential and National Assembly elections scheduled for February 16, 2019, Nigerian election officials are looking to build on the successful, peaceful transfer of power that came with the...
10 Apr 2018 | News and Updates
Chairman of the IFES Board Ken Blackwell submitted a written testimony to the House Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs for inclusion in the...
10 Apr 2018 | Election FAQ
On April 11, Azerbaijani citizens went to the polls to vote in an early presidential election. The election had previously been scheduled for October 17, 2018, and was rescheduled per a...
9 Apr 2018 | Election FAQ
On April 15, a national referendum was held, asking Guatemalan citizens if they agree with taking a territorial dispute with Belize to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague. To help...
6 Apr 2018 | News and Updates
IFES' partner, the Tunisian Mediterranean Center (TU-MED), found that 83 percent of rural Tunisian women said they did not vote during the 2014 national elections. Due to these findings, IFES and TU-...
3 Apr 2018 | News and Updates
On March 26, Guatemala’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) signed a letter of understanding (LoU) with USAID to formalize their cooperation through the Consortium for Elections and Political Process...
23 Mar 2018 | Election FAQ
On March 25, Turkmen citizens went to the polls for parliamentary and local elections, with a total of 16,558 candidates contesting the elections. To help you understand this important electoral...
14 Mar 2018 | Multimedia
In this edition of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems’ (IFES) “Dialogues on Democracy,” Editorial and Communications Manager Adam Gallagher speaks with Vasu Mohan, IFES’ regional...
14 Mar 2018 | News and Updates
As Fiji prepares to hold its next general elections, strengthening the accuracy of election reporting and promoting informed electoral analyses is a critical priority. From February 20-22, 2018, at...
14 Mar 2018 | Election FAQ
On March 18, Russian citizens went to the polls for presidential elections. Incumbent President Vladimir Putin contested the election as an independent, despite consistently representing the ruling...
12 Mar 2018 | Election FAQ
Egyptians voted for their next president from March 26-28, while out-of-country voters went to the polls from March 16-18. These elections were the first conducted by the National Election...
9 Mar 2018 | Election FAQ
Elections for the president of Nepal took place on March 13, with elections for vice president expected shortly after the announcement of presidential results. The elections for president and...
8 Mar 2018 | News and Updates
As Indonesia enters now a contentious election period consisting of regional elections in June 2018 and national elections in April 2019, it is important that election stakeholders are brought...
8 Mar 2018 | News and Updates
Ahead of Sri Lanka's February 2018 local government election, IFES carried out a women’s leadership program, She Leads SL, that equipped 458 Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim women with practical campaign...
5 Mar 2018 | News and Updates
IFES Vice President of Programs Michael Svetlik's piece, "Election assistance is not election interference," was published by The Hill on Friday, March 2.
2 Mar 2018 | Election FAQ
On March 7, Sierra Leone held general elections, with voters choosing their next president and representatives in Parliament and local councils. The elections represent the fifth straight...
28 Feb 2018 | Election FAQ
Pakistan will hold Senate elections on March 3 to fill 52 seats vacated by retiring senators at the end of their six-year term. To help you understand this important electoral process, IFES...
21 Feb 2018 | News and Updates
To achieve more collaboration and participation between citizens and the government, Guatemala has committed to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and use technology to...
21 Feb 2018 | News and Updates
On February 12, IFES Africa Director Rushdi Nackerdien briefed the United Nations Security Council during an Arria Formula Meeting on “The Electoral Process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”...