An estimated 170 million Indonesian voters will head to the polls on July 8, 2009, to vote for their next president and vice president. Due to April election complaints, the government of Indonesia implemented many remedial actions. A secular nation with the largest Muslim majority in the world, Indonesia has made important advances towards democratic consolidation in the years since 1998. There have been four peaceful transitions of presidential power and three national elections that were certified as open and transparent. The July 2009 election will be the second time that Indonesians have directly elected their president. More Detail>>

In 2007 Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union, some 17 years after the collapse of communism. The period since accession, however, has proved challenging for Bulgaria. Independent observers have expressed concern about the freedom of the press with regard to the murder of a journalist in 2008. And in an unprecedented move last year, the European Commission froze 800 million Euros in aid to Bulgaria over charges of fraud and corruption. On July 5, 2009 Bulgaria will hold its first parliamentary elections since joining the European Union in an atmosphere of rising political tension and intensified international scrutiny. Read More >>

On July 5, 2009 Mexicans will elect 500 new members to the Cámara de Diputados, Mexico's lower chamber of Congress, as well as governors in six states and local officials in nine states. These elections will no doubt be a referendum on the policies of President Felipe Calderón, who was elected in 2006 from the National Action Party. In the run up to these legislative elections, the nation's three major parties, the PAN, the Institutional Revolutionary Party and the Democratic Revolution Party, are campaigning on platforms which seek to address Mexicans' uneasiness about the economy and rising crime rates, problems which have debilitated much of the country. More Detail >>

Once again a New York Times “investigative” story, written like a sloppy high school term paper, has slipped by any editors worthy of the newspaper’s former reputation. More Detail >>
Letter The New York Times Refused to Print >>
IRI Releases Letter from Prime Minister of Kenya >>
Point by Point Rebuttal to The New York Times Article "A Chaotic Kenya Vote and a Secret U.S. Exit Poll" >>