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U.S. ELECTION SUPPORT IN AFRICA

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, 

GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND 

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

MARCH 18, 2015

Serial No. 114–19

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

MATT SALMON, Arizona 

DARRELL E. ISSA, California 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

PAUL COOK, California 

RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

CURT CLAWSON, Florida 

SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee 

REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin 

DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan 

LEE M. ZELDIN, New York 

TOM EMMER, Minnesota 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

BRIAN HIGGINS, New York 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

ALAN GRAYSON, Florida 

AMI BERA, California 

ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California 

GRACE MENG, New York 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas 

ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois 

BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania

AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director

JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

CURT CLAWSON, Florida 

SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee 

TOM EMMER, Minnesota 

KAREN BASS, California 

DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

AMI BERA, California 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

The Honorable Eric G. Postel, Assistant to the Administrator, Bureau for 

Africa, U.S. Agency for International Development .......................................... 3

Mr. William Sweeney, president and chief executive onfficer, International 

Foundation for Electoral Systems ....................................................................... 25

Ms. Gretchen Birkle, regional director for Africa, International Republican 

Institute ................................................................................................................ 38

Mr. Eric Robinson, senior program officer for East and Horn of Africa, National Endowment for Democracy ....................................................................... 48

Mr. Patrick Merloe, director of electoral programs and senior associate, National Democratic Institute ................................................................................. 54

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

The Honorable Eric G. Postel: Prepared statement .............................................. 6

Mr. William Sweeney: Prepared statement ........................................................... 27

Ms. Gretchen Birkle: Prepared statement ............................................................. 40

Mr. Eric Robinson: Prepared statement ................................................................ 50

Mr. Patrick Merloe: Prepared statement ............................................................... 57

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 74

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 75

The Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from 

the State of New Jersey, and chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global 

Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations: Prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 76

(1)

U.S. ELECTION SUPPORT IN AFRICA 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2015

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HEALTH,

GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m., in room 

2255 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Tom Emmer (acting 

chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. EMMER. Today’s subject is U.S. election support in Africa. 

And I will recognize myself for an opening statement. 

Good morning to all of you. I would like to thank our witnesses 

for coming before our subcommittee today to testify on U.S. election 

support in Africa. I specifically want to wish Chairman Smith, who 

is unable to be here today, well and please know he cares deeply 

about this issue in the African continent. Myself, along with Ranking Member Bass, will do our best in his absence. At this point I 

would ask that Chair Smith’s remarks be entered into the record. 

We will have two separate panels this morning to provide us 

with a better understanding of the shifting landscape on the African continent. The current situation is that Africa is complex with 

many African nations holding national elections this year while enduring ongoing political and civil instability. Many of the nations 

such as Nigeria, Central African Republic, and South Sudan are 

experiencing difficulties providing proper security in the face of 

grave threats such as Boko Haram, civil war, and regional tension. 

In the face of these challenges, the United States is dealing with 

fiscal restraints that require us to make difficult choices. By 

prioritizing funds to high-risk states, we risk being late to the 

party. 

I appreciate the opportunity to hear what we are doing to provide assistance and how we are coordinating with the U.N., NGOs, 

and the states themselves. Many nations, Nigeria, in particular, 

present many challenges as the current status of elections has been 

in great flux. I would particularly like to know today what the U.S. 

is doing to prepare for the elections now slated for March 28th. The 

vote may prove to be the most significant political event in Africa 

this year. 

With over 10,000 people killed and millions displaced since 2009, 

the security situation is dire. The United States must provide leadership as Africa’s largest economy hangs on by a thread. While 

there is great uncertainty in Africa, there are also real signs of 

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hope and progress. While many of these states are struggling to 

forge democratic regimes, they are at least transitioning to them. 

While our own fight for democracy was messy, this is to be expected. 

The United States must continue to support these young nations 

as it is vital to our interests, regional security, and economic 

growth, and to the entire world as Africa continues to integrate 

itself into the global economy. 

With that, I would like to yield to Ranking Member Bass for her 

opening statement. 

Ms. BASS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to thank 

Chairman Smith. I know he is not with us today. I heard he was 

under the weather, but I want to thank him even though he is not 

here for his leadership and for calling today’s hearing and for you 

for serving in this capacity, to give us the opportunity to examine 

in depth, the U.S.’s approach and prioritization of not only our Government’s direct election support, but also our wider democracy 

and governance efforts in support of processes that should take 

place before and after election events. 

I would also like to thank our distinguished witnesses for today, 

as well as several Africa-focused and election experts from leading 

NGOs in the field of democracy and governance. I look forward to 

hearing your perspectives based on the areas of focus of your respective organizations including challenges and successes as well 

as your assessment of the U.S. Government’s level of prioritization 

and funding of democracy and governance programming. 

I also would be interested in hearing your assessment of which 

of the upcoming African elections pose the greatest challenges in 

terms of funding, logistics, internal political dynamics or conflictrelated concerns. With over 30 Presidential and parliamentary elections taking place in Africa between now and the end of 2016, today’s hearing couldn’t have been more timely as nations such as 

Nigeria, Sudan, and the DRC prepare to go to the polls in 2015. 

I am not only concerned with transparency, accountability, and 

human security in those specific national elections, but also their 

impacts on regional stability. 

As noted earlier, while elections are important, we know they are 

singular events in the electoral cycle, so it is my hope that U.S. 

support for these efforts is inclusive of pre-election assistance related to access, safety, and integrity of ballots. One of the on-going 

concerns I always have is that in some of the countries where we 

are not clear where the next level of leadership is going to come 

from, what is the U.S. doing to help to contribute to that leadership 

development? 

Lastly, as we look across the political landscape of the continent, 

there seems to be an upward trend in the number of incumbent 

leaders attempting constitutional amendments to extend their 

terms in office. It would be helpful if all of us could elaborate on 

this issue and its implications for the future of governance on the 

continent. 

And in closing, it is vital that the U.S. maintains its commitment 

to peaceful, credible, and transparent elections in Africa. And it is 

now up to each of us to ensure effective coordination, improved dipVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:16 May 19, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_AGH\031815\93820 SHIRL
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lomatic relations, and the transfer of the expertise and resources 

to realize these ends. Thank you and I yield back. 

Mr. EMMER. The Chair recognizes Representative Meadows for 

his opening remarks. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and I thank the ranking member, Ms. Bass, for her leadership on this particular issue. 

I am going to apologize up front. I have got another hearing and 

then some budget issues that I am having to deal with this morning. But I do plan to stay and the reason I am here, honestly, is 

to try to not only augment what Chairman Smith and Ranking 

Member Bass continue to do in terms of our outreach with regards 

to the African continent, but specifically those—I enjoy a great relationship with many of our African Ambassadors. And our involvement there is critical. I think it is one of the areas that has the 

most potential, but probably has the most work to do as well. And 

so it is my hope that we can hear from you and your testimony and 

then hopefully with some follow-up questions together that we will 

do this in a bipartisan way to figure out the best way to move forward in the continent. 

Thank you so much. I will yield back, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. EMMER. Thank you. Mr. Eric Postel became USAID’s Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Economic Growth, Education, 

and Environment in March 2011. In October 2014, he was asked 

by the USAID Administrator to serve as the Assistant to the Administrator for Africa. Mr. Postel brings to the position more than 

25 years of private-sector experience working in emerging markets, 

especially those in Africa. He also has founded an investment 

banking and consulting firm, focusing on emerging markets, 

worked for Citibank Tokyo, and served as a commissioner on the 

U.S. Helping to Enhance the Livelihood of People Around the Globe 

Commission. 

Mr. Postel, welcome to the committee. 

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE ERIC G. POSTEL, ASSISTANT 

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR, BUREAU FOR AFRICA, U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Bass, 

and members of the subcommittee. Thank you very much for your 

welcome and for the opportunity to appear before you today. And 

I ask that my full testimony be entered into the record. 

The U.S. Agency for International Development promotes better 

governance as an integral part of our Agency’s mission. Supporting 

elections and political processes have been a cornerstone of our 

work in Africa for more than two decades. During the last 6 years 

alone, USAID has worked to improve the credibility and conduct of 

elections in at least 34 countries in Africa. 

As you know, USAID’s electoral assistance can take multiple 

forms. I will mention six of them: One, building the institutional 

capacity of electoral commissions; two, helping to strengthen political parties; three, training media on how to report responsibly; 

four, encouraging and promoting peaceful, nonviolent participation 

by the citizenry of the country; five, facilitating the inclusion of 

women, youth, and people with disabilities at all stages of the procVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:16 May 19, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_AGH\031815\93820 SHIRL
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ess; and/or six, equipping nonpartisan election monitors and observers. 

We do much of this work by supporting international organizations including those who are testifying here today and they have 

a very long and expert experience in these areas. We also are increasingly partnering directly with local, nonpartisan, civil society 

organizations and networks on election observation and voter outreach such as NGO 3D in Senegal and government institutions 

such as electoral commissions in Ghana and elsewhere. 

In Zambia’s recent election earlier this year, USAID provided 

critical support to the civil society, to the election commission, and 

thousands of nonpartisan citizen observers who monitored the conduct of the elections and conducted a sophisticated parallel vote 

tabulation that confirmed the official close, and I mean under 

10,000 vote, difference in the results. 

In Burundi, where political violence remains a serious concern, 

our support typifies what we see as the best practice of starting to 

work long before the campaigning even begins. Soon after the completion of the last elections in 2010, we began a series of assessments to understand what the situation had evolved to, the needs, 

and to identify possible useful interventions so that by April 2013, 

we had launched programs pointing toward this year’s election. 

And in Nigeria, in close partnership with the United Kingdom’s 

Department of International Development, we are supporting a 

whole host of Nigerian efforts on elections. Our work in elections 

administration supports the operations of what is called the INEC, 

Independent National Election Commission. To date, they have distributed 55 million voter cards to more than 80 percent of the registered voters, a huge improvement over 2011. The INEC’s election 

support centers will monitor the deployment of materials and collection of ballots. 

We and our partners have also been working with youth to support their participation in the processes and working as hard as we 

possibly can to promote peaceful elections. Lastly, we are strengthening Nigerian civil society’s efforts to hold candidates, parties, the 

INEC, and other officials accountable by observing and reporting 

out on their own elections. Our partners are training and deploying 

more than 3,000 domestic observers for the Presidential election. 

However, U.S. Government support alone cannot determine the 

success of an election, particularly when leaders ignore or rewrite 

the rules, or deliberately weaken their own institutions to serve 

their own interests. 

Organizing and conducting credible, legitimate, and peaceful 

elections is not without challenges as you referenced. One of the 

key lessons we have learned is that strong institutions and the actual elections are mutually reinforcing. Elections are only one step 

in the long process, as you alluded to, that is required for true 

democratic transformation. We aim for our electoral programs to 

contribute to the whole process, not just election day. And it is sustained support for the process of democracy from the halls of the 

government and the capital to the village council and across all the 

full range of citizens’ groups and independent voices is critical to 

creating and sustaining an environment where democracy can grow 

and thrive. 

5

USAID and its partners have been fortunate to receive strong 

support and guidance from this subcommittee and its hardworking 

staff which allows us to pursue this important work. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify this morning. I look forward to your questions and also to hearing the thoughts of the experts on the next panel. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Postel follows:]

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Mr. EMMER. Thank you, Mr. Postel. 

Before we proceed to questions, Mr. Bera has joined the committee and I wanted to offer him the opportunity to make any 

opening remarks he might have. 

Mr. BERA. I am perfectly happy to proceed to questions. 

Mr. EMMER. Okay, great. All right, then I will recognize myself 

for questions. 

Mr. Postel, you went through the six things that USAID does to 

encourage a safe and viable, valid electoral process, and then you 

came back to it with respect to Nigeria in your comments right toward the end when you referenced ‘‘we are committed and working 

toward promoting peaceful, nonviolent, electoral processes.’’ And 

then that was number four, and I have summarized it a little bit 

differently, but that was the gist. And then number five was ‘‘encouraging the participation of young people and women in the process.’’ I want to focus on those two in the brief time that we have 

this morning. Maybe Nigeria is a good place to focus since we have 

got the election that has been rescheduled from February 14th to 

March 28th. 

First off, the postponement, I am going to throw in one little 

curve, too, because you said at the end, ‘‘the process depends 

upon’’—I am going to paraphrase it. USAID can only do so much. 

It really depends on leaders who do not ignore or rewrite the rules. 

Can you give us a little bit more insight as to the specific situation 

in Nigeria with the postponement and then I want to come back 

and ask you to address numbers four and five a little bit more, 

both with respect to Nigeria and more broadly. 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you for the question, Congressman. As you 

probably saw, the State Department issued a statement that they 

were disappointed by the delay, but the announcement was that 

they basically weren’t ready and they needed more time. And that 

was the Government of Nigeria’s decision. At this stage, with that 

as a fait accompli, our focus is to continue to say that the U.S. Government feels very strongly that we don’t want any more delays 

and we really do hope that this delay has been put to good use, to 

make sure that they are ready and in terms of the mechanics of 

the election and also to try to do everything possible to deal with 

some of the side effects of the problems related to Boko Haram and 

so forth. 

So for instance, there are, I believe, close to 1 million internallydisplaced people, people that are not in their homes. And we have 

certainly been trying to support the electoral commission with 

ideas about how to enable those people to vote and maximize the 

ability of all Nigerians across the whole country to vote. And so we 

are working hard to support them in their efforts to have this happen in barely 2 weeks. 

Mr. EMMER. Thank you. Back to leaders who ignore or rewrite 

the rules. So that wasn’t the situation that we were talking about 

in terms of leadership in Nigeria postponing this. This is USAID. 

From your perspective, this was their taking control of their own 

situation, saying they weren’t ready, and postponing it for, until 

further notice, legitimate reasons. 

15

Mr. POSTEL. That is what they told us and they set a date and 

if they stick to that, I think that we can move forward, that they 

felt they needed that time to finish their preparation. 

Mr. EMMER. And as far as USAID, your involvement, because we 

heard this back in early February, that you were training 3,000 

some folks to be involved in the process. That was ready to go on 

the 14th when it was originally scheduled? 

Mr. POSTEL. I believe it was, Congressman. 

Mr. EMMER. Now to the two specific things. How do you, USAID, 

how does USAID encourage and specific examples if you will, and 

if Nigeria is a place to focus on, that is fine, but pick whatever you 

want. How do you encourage a peaceful process? 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you for your question. It is more art than 

science, but it is something that is very important to do. And there 

are a number of examples. It is not one specific thing. One of the 

things is to encourage a lot of people to have dialogue and to get 

a lot of people in the country trying to talk about the advantages 

and why peaceful resolution of issues is a much better way to go. 

And this——

Mr. EMMER. Can I? 

Mr. POSTEL. Sure. 

Mr. EMMER. How do you do that? 

Mr. POSTEL. So we try to work with a lot of different parts of society. We have on occasion worked with people that are in the arts 

who the youth might look up to. We have worked extensively in 

some countries with faith-based groups. In fact, in Nigeria, there 

is a coalition of Christians and Muslims who are working in an 

interfaith center and they are speaking out about this and trying 

to encourage it. 

I understand that all the media have agreed that some time next 

week there is going to be a day where basically this message of 

nonviolent elections is going to be on all channels, talked about all 

day long, so anybody who has got access to any media in the country. So what happens is that people just work through many different channels of civil society. 

Of course, the U.S. Government speaks directly about these subjects, but I think one of the lessons learned over time, is it is better 

when the citizens of their own country speak to their fellow citizens, rather than us across the oceans and so forth. 

Mr. EMMER. I understand that Gretchen Birkle of IRI will testify 

that roughly a dozen African nations that are holding elections this 

year, they are engaged in civil conflicts or battling terrorism or domestic insurgencies. You have given me some of it, I think just 

now, but what is the USAID policy for supporting elections in countries like this beyond what you have just talked about? 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you for question, Congressman. That is a 

great question because it is a very challenging situation and what 

we have to do is on the one hand it presents an opportunity to talk 

to people in these countries where there is instability or conflict, 

that peaceful, nonviolent means of resolving disputes and having 

those discussions through civil society discussions and through 

elections is a much better way to go. And so because there are disagreements, it is a chance to really work on that message and help 

16

people learn how to have those dialogues and encourage the democratic processes. 

But, of course, we also have to factor in safety to our own staff 

and our partners. And in some cases, we are able to reconcile both. 

There have been some cases where we are not able to perhaps work 

in an entire country because of the need to worry about the safety 

of our partners or our own staff. So that is the biggest challenge 

to it which is the safety side. But there are also opportunities to 

show people there is actually a better way and try to work with a 

lot of voices and to not let the rabble-rousers and violent extremists 

control the narrative and drive people more and more toward violence. 

Mr. EMMER. Thank you and I thank the ranking member for her 

patience. One last one before I turn it over to her. The recommendations for governments of national unity have been widely 

utilized to redress election misfires. However, can you suggest any 

situation in which such blended governments have succeeded when 

the main opposition opponent has been included in a blended government? 

Mr. POSTEL. I am not expert enough to be able to answer that, 

but I will be happy to come back to you. It is not an area that I 

am familiar with. Thank you for the question. 

[The information referred to follows:]

WRITTEN RESPONSE RECEIVED FROM THE HONORABLE ERIC G. POSTEL TO QUESTION

ASKED DURING THE HEARING BY THE HONORABLE TOM EMMER

Governments of National Unity (GNUs), by this and other names, have been employed in Africa during post-conflict transitions, as in South Africa, Sudan, Burundi, 

and the Democratic Republic of Congo. More recently, countries such as Kenya and 

Zimbabwe have used GNUs as a temporary mechanism to restore governance after 

electoral disputes. This approach has proven useful in the short term for conflict 

mitigation, particularly when the GNU period is relatively brief. Yet over time, 

these arrangements tend to undermine good governance principles and practices, 

while postponing or even exacerbating the political grievances they were meant to 

resolve. 

American University scholar Carl LeVan has studied the topic and summarized 

his findings as follows:

Power sharing agreements have been widely used in Africa as paths out of 

civil war. However the research focus on conflict mitigation provides an inadequate guide to recent cases such as Kenya and Zimbabwe. When used in response to flawed elections, pacts guaranteeing political inclusion adversely affect government performance and democratization. Political inclusion in these 

cases undermines vertical relationships of accountability, increases budgetary 

spending, and creates conditions for policy gridlock.

Dr. LeVan’s paper and analysis is available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/

10.1111/j.1468-0491.2010.01514.x/abstract

Mr. EMMER. Thank you. And if you do have something after, 

please supply it. At this point, I will recognize the ranking member 

for her questions. 

Ms. BASS. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a couple of quick 

questions. One, you were making reference to media in Nigeria and 

you were talking about questions calling for it to be peaceful. Is 

that an effort that either is one that we are paying for or subcontracting with or were you just making reference to an effort that 

is happening in Nigeria? 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you for your question, Congresswoman. We 

are not paying for the media, but our partners have been involved 

17

in encouraging that this might occur. But Nigerians are making 

this happen to the best of my knowledge. 

Ms. BASS. Okay, I wanted to know if you could elaborate where 

USAID is currently prioritizing democracy and governance programs amongst its varied objectives. Specifically, what kind of election assistance does the U.S. support in Africa and where is USAID 

focusing? I am a proud member of NED’s Board, so I am aware of 

that piece. But outside of NED, what does USAID—in which countries? 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you for the question, Congressman. I can get 

you a complete list, but off the top of my head I believe this year 

we are working on a total of 13 or 15 different elections, most of 

which are national level. Some of the big countries—some of the 

countries where we have the biggest activities right now include 

the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Kenya, and so 

forth. We can get you a full list. But it is not all inclusive because, 

for instance, we just supported the snap election that occurred in 

Zambia as a result of the death of the head of state. 

Ms. BASS. Right. 

Mr. POSTEL. So the list, of course, varies year to year, as we try 

to maximize the efficiency of the resources and adjust that to deal 

with the electoral calendar. 

[The information referred to follows:]

WRITTEN RESPONSE RECEIVED FROM THE HONORABLE ERIC G. POSTEL TO QUESTION

ASKED DURING THE HEARING BY THE HONORABLE KAREN BASS

The below table notes in which African countries/operating units USAID had programs addressing democracy and governance issues in 2014. It also notes where 

elections-related programs in particular were active.


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Ms. BASS. And speaking about the resources, can you speak to 

trends for funding for democracy and governance programming 

within USAID? I have heard, and I don’t know what the exact figures are, that it has diminished in previous years. 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you for your question, Congressman. There 

was some decline. We are still spending quite a bit of funds on 

these topics. In the President’s FY 16 budget, he requested a total 

of $300 million for Africa on democracy and governance of which 

$62 million would go for the general topic of elections and consensus building. 

Ms. BASS. You know, do we spend any time, and I am just thinking that the country of Namibia and you mentioned Zambia, you 

know, there are examples in Africa where there have been a sound 

process, you know, where the transfer of governance has been 

peaceful, has been consistent. And we tend to always talk about 

the problems. So my question to you is, does USAID spend any 

time promoting the good examples? I know there is going to be an 

inauguration in Namibia in just a couple of days, but we do tend 

to just focus on that and I don’t know if we spend any time talking 

about positives. 

Mr. POSTEL. Congressman, you see me smiling ear to ear because 

in November I was in Zambia to work on things relating to economic growth and I also met with the electoral commission and 

looked at what support we were gave. And then I watched what 

happened. And I felt so strongly on this point that you made that 

I suggested to our teams that I would author an article which we 

put into several African press outlets to basically talk about the 

success in Zambia. I am not saying that it was flawless, but the 

trend was right. There are other examples such as Namibia that 

you mentioned. 

Even Kenya, if you think about it, what went on in the most recent election which incidentally, Congressman, there was huge 

work on a massive scale. I mean 1 million-plus youth. It was a 

huge amount of work done in Kenya, right from the end of the disastrous 2007 election to try to prepare through the whole cycle. 

And so it was a lot better election. So I fully agree with you that 

we need to talk about these because I think they represent strong 

models for the other countries and let them realize that number 

one, it can be done because as you know, pulling off elections is actually logistically complicated and for some of these countries they 

are very young countries, so let them know what is possible and 

that the world commends those who can pull it off. So I personally 

think that we have to do more and I am dedicated to doing more, 

to trumpet the success so that we shine a light on that so others 

can see what is possible. 

Ms. BASS. And you know, I think that is very good and I would 

appreciate in the future you letting us know what you have done 

in that regard and then how we might be supportive. But just like 

I think it is important that we publicize that within Africa, I also 

think it is important for us because you know, when we talk about 

Africa it is always from the point of view of some problems, so I 

think here amongst our colleagues it is important. But I think that 

is our responsibility. We can spread the word on that. 

So with that, Mr. Chair, I will yield. 

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Mr. EMMER. Thank you. The Chair now recognizes, Mr. Meadows. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your 

testimony so far and I agree with the ranking member that we 

need to do a better job of telling the positive things. Some of us 

represent districts where supporting Africa and foreign aid and 

those kind of things gets us reelected. I am not one that enjoys that 

particular constituency. I would assure you. At the same time, I 

have been willing to invest political capital on this particular issue 

and it is mainly out of my respect for the ranking member and the 

chairman and their work in this area and my love for many of the 

people, many of whom I have met for the first time, but having 

traveled to Africa a number of times and worked alongside of orphanages or schools or other people in need, it is critical. 

So I say that with the backdrop because I want to focus on a couple of areas that knowing that you have a willing participant here, 

there are some areas that I am extremely concerned about that I 

would like for either you to address or for you to take back to the 

appropriate people to address. One is obviously a USAID diplomat 

was arrested at the DRC within the last couple of days, on Sunday. 

You know, this is one that really, I think, comes under your supervision from a USG point of view. And here we have a U.S. diplomat 

being arrested in a country in which we are involved with, so can 

you help us understand the events and has there been follow-up 

calls with them and what should we expect? 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you for your question, Congressman, and also 

for your support in an environment where not everybody agrees 

with some of this work. 

So the individual who is a Foreign Service Officer was at an 

event that was meant, per our prior discussion, to encourage youth 

to peacefully air their differences and peacefully participate in electoral processes. There were a number of people taken into custody 

at that event by the secret services of the government there and 

it took 3 hours until our diplomat could be released. And I was 

working on it as it was happening as was everybody there. 

Our Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo was 

fully engaged as was the head of USAID’s office there and the 

whole team. In a follow up, once that person was released, they 

have already met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and had a 

discussion and expressed our unhappiness with what happened. 

Mr. MEADOWS. I hope expressed our strong disapproval. 

Mr. POSTEL. Yes, sir. Exactly. And the conversations are not finished. There was also some inaccurate reporting in the press about 

what this event was and people are working with the press and 

talking to people to clarify their understandings because it was not 

as some portrayed it, some attempt by the opposition party to 

somehow cause trouble. That is not at all what it was. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Alright, so let me follow up a little bit then because I think the message needs to be clear. There is a finite 

amount of resources and you have to make a decision each and 

every time where you are going to deploy those resources. A willing 

or at least an open government that respects the diplomatic security that comes along with that is a key component for any of us 

and we have to make decisions. And so we want to hear back from 

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you on the results of those follow-up conversations if you will report back to the chairman and this committee on that particular 

aspect of that so that we make sure that no one is in harm’s way. 

God forbid that it could have been much worse than what we saw. 

[The information referred to follows:]

WRITTEN RESPONSE RECEIVED FROM THE HONORABLE ERIC G. POSTEL TO QUESTION

ASKED DURING THE HEARING BY THE HONORABLE MARK MEADOWS

Mr. Kevin Sturr, Director of the USAID/DRC Democracy, Human Rights and Governance office was detained on March 15 after attending a press conference organized by a group of civic activists to discuss their new youth movement called 

‘‘Filimbi’’ (‘‘whistle blower’’ in Swahili). The press conference followed a workshop 

with civil society members and musician activists, including two Young African 

Leadership Initiative (YALI) fellows and other YALI network members. Members of 

Senegalese youth movement Y’en a Marre and Burkina Faso youth movement Balai 

Citoyen were also present and detained along with the owners of the venue. The 

event was sponsored in part by the Embassy’s Public Affairs Section. USAID did 

not financially support the event. 

Mr. Sturr was released unharmed several hours after his arrest following an inquiry by the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa. The U.S. Embassy protested the detention 

of U.S. diplomat Kevin Sturr to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the DRC and to 

the DRC Ambassador in the United States. In a discussion with the U.S. Ambassador, the Congolese intelligence agency indicated that they would complete and 

submit the findings of their investigation of Mr. Sturr by Friday, March 20 to the 

President. As of this writing (March 27), the government’s determination in this 

matter is unknown and Mr. Sturr’s passport remains with the Congolese authorities. 

Congolese press reports that some members of the Congolese National Assembly 

have called for the release of Congolese youth who were detained. The President of 

the National Assembly is acting to keep Members of Parliament (MPs) informed on 

the matter. Congolese press further reports that one of the detainees is the son of 

an opposition MP. 

The United States government often sponsors projects that involve youth and civil 

society as part of its broader commitment to encourage a range of voices to be heard. 

These non-partisan and non-violent youth organizations as well as the organizers 

of the weekend’s events intended to engage youth in their civic duty to take part 

in the political process and raise their voices about issues of concern to them. DRC 

government officials and ruling coalition parties were invited to the event. 

The U.S. government strongly objects to the DRC government’s violation of basic 

freedoms of speech and of peaceful assembly. A troubling trend of the Government 

of the DRC restricting the freedom of civil society to speak out is emerging and was 

accentuated by the civil unrest of last January, in which students featured prominently. 

Recent events underline the importance of USAID’s support for free, fair, credible 

and timely elections in the DRC through citizen and voter education and citizen participation in elections observation.

Mr. MEADOWS. So let me follow up a little bit further. Your involvement in the democratic process is really not one of trying to 

influence governments as much as it is trying to make sure that 

the people in those African countries have a voice to be able to select their own leadership. It is not about setting up governments, 

is that correct? 

Mr. POSTEL. Yes, sir. We are not there to push for specific candidates or specific platforms, but to try to encourage free, fair, 

transparent processes that get everybody involved and intelligently 

working through the issues. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Well, and I am glad you answered that because 

I have met with a number of African leaders, Ambassadors, heads 

of state and I have expressed to them over and over our desire to 

make sure that we have an open and democratic process. And 

many of them believe that our influence, your influence, candidly, 

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is there to influence the politics of that particular day. So that is 

really like nails on a chalkboard because I know that that is not 

what any of us want to see there. So you are here today. Your testimony is that setting up governments and influencing the outcome 

is not what it is all about? I think that should be a softball question. 

Mr. POSTEL. Definitely not, Congressman. 

Mr. MEADOWS. So let me go a step further and this is a message 

to take back to some in the State Department. When we see reports recently of funds being given to a nonprofit that indirectly, 

and I don’t want to make this political, but when we see funds, 

$350,000, being filtrated in to affect elections in a democratic country of Israel, and you know what I am talking about, it undermines 

everything that we are trying to do and what you are trying to do 

because they take that narrative and say well, if you are willing 

to influence it there, what is to stop us from influencing it in some 

African country? Would you agree that that is a problem? 

Mr. POSTEL. So——

Mr. MEADOWS. If you were an African leader, let me put it that 

way, instead of speaking for USAID. Would you believe that that 

would be a problem? 

Mr. POSTEL. I believe that it would be not helpful at all. It would 

be a problem if some of these heads of state think that somehow 

we are trying to directly advocate for them or against them as opposed to understanding that we are there about the process and for 

the sake of free, transparent, open elections. So I will take your 

message back. 

Mr. MEADOWS. And let it be clear, I am here to support you in 

any way that I possibly can because I believe in the future of what 

you are trying to do and really the future of the African continent. 

There is great work to be done there. 

At the same time, if the State Department is sending a conflicting message and I have been silent on a lot of this stuff, if they 

are sending a conflicting message, it creates an integrity problem 

for me and what I have got to do is make sure that if you take that 

back and I am saying this in the strongest terms, that it will not 

be tolerated, using American taxpayer dollars and I want the message to go out to all the African countries. There are many of us 

here on Capitol Hill that believe the use of American taxpayer 

money to establish a government of our choosing is not what we 

do. We want the people of those countries to establish their own 

leadership. Would you agree with that? 

Mr. POSTEL. Yes, sir. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Alright. Thank you. And I again thank you for 

your service and I just feel like those two areas are areas that we 

need to address. I appreciate the patience of the chair. We are 

going to be following all the other four panelists back in our office. 

I apologize, I have got to run and deal with Hezbollah. That is a 

lot easier than this. 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you, sir. 

Mr. MEADOWS. Thank you. 

Mr. EMMER. The Chair recognizes Mr. Bera. 

Mr. BERA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to thank the 

ranking member. Just to reiterate comments that Africa, for all of 

22

its challenges, is a continent full of promise and the work that you 

are doing, the work of making sure in the short term there are free 

and fair elections and in the longer term that there is a culture of 

voting, a culture of peaceful transition is not easy work, but it is 

necessary work and certainly reflects the values of our great nation. 

I would also reiterate what my colleague, Congressman Meadows, suggested that it is not our goal or our business to do anything other than help ensure free and fair elections. In that note, 

I would be curious, as you look at some of the nations of Africa 

where USAID and others are engaged in short term in ensuring 

free and fair elections, what is the culture of voting in many of 

these nations? Again, we have our own challenges in terms of the 

culture of voting, but I would be curious what your sense is, just 

in general terms. 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you for your question. I think there are probably some who are more expert than me, but my general understanding is that it varies across different countries and that in 

some cases there may be a limited experience with formal voting 

as we currently experience it here, but there are elements of selection of village elders or other sorts of selection processes that actually have a long history, I believe, in a number of the countries, but 

it really varies as you would expect. 

Mr. BERA. So maybe that as we approach these countries, as opposed to saying well, here is what our culture of voting is and here 

is how we vote, making sure that we are understanding their culture of voting and how they might interpret that selection process 

which may be slightly different, but still again if there is a fair and 

democratic—is that pretty accurate? 

Mr. POSTEL. Two things, Congressman. First of all, when we do 

our work, we always with our partners look at the circumstances 

in the country. And so as we design the work in partnership with 

local organizations and government and everybody, we very much 

try to be sensitive to these differences to make sure, because that 

is how you help make sure it is effective. 

But the other thing I would say is that polling over the last 10, 

15 years has shown that the percentage of people who feel very 

strongly that they want to vote, they want a democracy and their 

understanding of what that involves is rapidly rising. So in one 

sense they are coming around and are really interested in the same 

sort of democracy that we have here. 

Mr. BERA. Great. Next question. Who are other partner countries 

that we are working with? Obviously, France has a long history on 

the continent and are there other partner countries that we are 

working with, partner democracies? 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you for your question. There are a bunch. Of 

course, France and the UK are active in a number of countries, especially their former colonies. The Nordics, Scandinavia, Norway, 

Sweden, Denmark and so forth, have often worked on elections and 

civil society and peaceful coexistence issues across Africa and we 

have partnered with them. 

We see several other donors as well, such as the Canadians, the 

Germans, and others. So there are number of different international donors that work on these things and we are trying very 

23

hard to coordinate with them in all cases and in a number of cases, 

outright partner, and do it together. 

Mr. BERA. Another question, again, listening to the questions 

that Congressman Meadows had asked, you know, I do hear reports of U.S.-based campaign consultants often getting hired to go 

run campaigns in some of these African nations. I would be curious 

to get your take. If some of these private sector campaign consultants are coming in, being hired by one candidate or another candidate, clearly with the goal of getting that candidate elected, if 

that becomes an issue, if others see—they may not always know 

that. They will see someone who is American and they may kind 

of blur the line. Are you seeing an increase in kind of these outside 

private consultants coming in? Does that make your work more difficult? 

Mr. POSTEL. I am not too expert in that, Congressman, but I 

know of some cases where the candidates themselves have hired 

external consultants who may be out of the U.S. or they could also 

be out of Europe and other places. You know, that is part of what 

they do campaigning, but we are sticking to the process. And we 

work with political parties to make sure that they run themselves 

in a professional way, but it is not about candidates or platforms 

or anything like that. And so we are working also on the mechanics 

of the election. So to that extent when they have consultants talking about what the messages would be or whatever, that is a different area than in which we are working. 

Mr. BERA. And I would just for the record want to make sure 

that is not the policy of the United States Government, although 

sometimes, again, in the recent elections in Israel, I think there 

were folks saying well, it is an administration trying to influence 

an election by having consultants go there again. That is not our 

policy. Our policy is to ensure free and fair elections. 

The last question, as we look at some of the countries that were 

ravaged with Ebola and so forth, are there unique challenges that 

again, not knowing exactly what their election timetable is like, 

things that USAID is thinking about, going forward in terms of 

helping build some of that infrastructure? 

Mr. POSTEL. Thank you for your question, Congressman. You 

may remember that actually Liberia had an election in December 

amidst this. It does absolutely make it more complicated because 

you have people coming in contact and handling things that they 

are passing to each other where if somebody were infected and in 

the voting queue or whatever, it could actually lead to transmission; it was widely discussed about how to do this. And our 

medical and humanitarian experts, I believe, were consulted informally about best practices to try to make sure that that wasn’t a 

problem. And Guinea which has an election coming up, will also 

have to be attentive to that. So it is a concern as we try to deal 

with the Ebola problem. And then at the same time, we wouldn’t 

want anybody to have new complications introduced, but on the 

same token you have got to have elections. It is not an excuse not 

to have elections. 

Mr. BERA. Right. Thank you. 

Mr. EMMER. Thank you, Mr. Bera. Mr. Postel, thank you very 

much for being here today. We appreciate your time and your testiVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:16 May 19, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 F:\WORK\_AGH\031815\93820 SHIRL
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mony. And I just as a matter of form want to make it clear that 

your complete submission will be made part of the record as will 

the next panel, their complete submissions will be entered into the 

record as well. I want to thank you for being here today and at this 

point we will call up the second panel. 

As they are moving to the table, why don’t we introduce them? 

Mr. William Sweeney serves as the president and CEO and 

IFES. Prior to these positions, he also served as a member of the 

Board of Directors and was board chairman at IFES. He has a lifelong background in democracy promotion and public policy with 

considerable experience in both the public and private sectors. He 

was deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee and 

executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He has been an official election observer in the Philippines, 

Russia, Jamaica, and Nicaragua. Welcome to the panel, Mr. 

Sweeney. 

Ms. Gretchen Birkle currently serves as regional director for Africa, at the International Republican Institute where she is responsible for developing and managing programs in transitioning African countries. She has extensive experience managing democracy 

and governance programs in closed societies and developing countries around the world. She served as senior coordinator at the 

State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and 

Labor where she provided strategic direction for programming and 

human rights reporting and represented the bureau by testifying 

before Congress. Ms. Birkle has observed elections in Africa, Asia, 

Eurasia, and the Middle East. 

Mr. Eric Robinson serves as a senior program officer with the Africa Program at the National Endowment for Democracy. In his 

role, he oversees the East, Horn, and Southern Africa regions and 

works specifically on Somalia and Eritrea. He also provides oversight to more than 25 NED Core Institute projects in the region. 

Prior to his appointment at NED, he lived in Puntland, Somalia for 

6 months under a U.N. Development Programme consultancy for 

civil society and he worked for several organizations in the United 

States implementing federally-funded programs related to refugees, 

asylees, and civil society development in newcomer communities in 

the United States. 

Mr. Patrick Merloe is senior associate and director of electoral 

programs at the National Democratic Institute. He has more than 

30 years of experience in promoting citizen empowerment, governmental accountability, and public policy advocacy and oversees 

many of the Institute’s programs. Mr. Merloe has participated in 

more than 150 international missions for NDI to more than 65 

countries concentrating on conflict-sensitive states and countries 

that are vulnerable to authoritarian tendencies and has produced 

a dozen publications on comparative law, human rights, and elections, and he served as the principal drafter and negotiator of the 

Declaration of Principles for International Election Observation. 

Thanks to everyone on the panel for being here today and we will 

start with testimony from Mr. William Sweeney. 

25

STATEMENT OF MR. WILLIAM SWEENEY, PRESIDENT AND 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE ONFFICER, INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR ELECTORAL SYSTEMS 

Mr. SWEENEY. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Bass, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, on behalf of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, I deeply appreciate this 

opportunity to discuss the impact of U.S. electoral support in subSaharan Africa. 

Let me start by commending this subcommittee for its constant 

engagement and focus on all the issues concerning democratic development in Africa. This hearing is another spotlight by the subcommittee, thank you. 

Since 1987, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, 

better known as IFES, has worked in over 145 countries to support 

citizens’ rights to participate in free, fair, transparent, and accountable elections. Our active programs in Burkina Faso, Burundi, the 

Central African Republic, Coˆte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe empower the individuals and institutions that make democracy work at every turn of 

the electoral cycle. 

IFES provides technical assistance to strengthen local capacity 

and electoral inclusiveness in societies that aspire to realize their 

full democratic potential. 

Mr. Chairman, as we prepare for Nigeria’s March 28th election, 

we should recognize that every Nigerian who votes is choosing the 

ballot over the bullet. Nigeria has a history of election-related violence. There were violent episodes in 2007 and 2011. Nigerians’ 

vote this time is a personal rejection of Boko Haram, their public 

threats to this election, and the terrorist legacy since 2009 of 

13,000 dead, 1.5 million forced to flee their homes, and kidnappings 

including the 219 schoolgirls. In the United States, political factions don’t kill poll workers and burn down polling stations. 

On March 28th, Nigerians will once again courageously exercise 

their human right to choose the leadership of their country and to 

vote for stability and democracy. Since taking his post as chairman 

of the Independent National Electoral Commission or the INEC in 

late 2010, Chairman Jega has brought a new level of professionalism and integrity to the institution. The introduction of the 

biometric register, while costly, was seen by many Nigerians as an 

important step in cutting down on the possibility of voter fraud and 

ballot stuffing. Since 2010, Chairman Jega has also pioneered internal reorganization of INEC’s departments as well as new policies and procedures to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the 

bureaucracy. 

Domestic and international observers commended the INEC for 

process improvements and their integrity in the conduct of the 

2011 elections, a substantial improvement over 2007, according to 

the Department of State statement. Despite the highly politicized 

environment surrounding the INEC and the elections in Nigeria, 

Chairman Jega has managed to maintain a reputation for being 

impartial and professional and is well respected by Nigerian civil 

society and citizens. He will finish his term in June 2015. 

Let me now briefly summarize our written statement. All the political situations in the countries under discussion are fragile. PubVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:16 May 19, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 F:\WORK\_AGH\031815\93820 SHIRL
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lic institutions have large mandates with little time to build capacity even if resources are available. None of the electoral management bodies, or EMBs, in these countries have had the luxury of 

time in office to demonstrate independence from the political tensions and unrest currently underway. However, the elections represent the best of opportunity to peacefully address political disputes and give all parties time to come together as a community 

and as a nation. 

The alternative to the election process and outcome is quite simple and direct. Military or authoritarian rule is hopefully a closing 

chapter in Africa, but it remains a clear alternative. U.S. assistance to the election process remains critical to supporting the 

voices and votes of the Africans who have demonstrated a hope for 

democracy both according to polling data and by their courage to 

vote. 

IFES’ focus is the election process conducted by the public institution, the election management body. Much of the cost of an election, personnel, infrastructure, down to ballots and ballot boxes, 

are part of the public budget of the country. Technical assistance 

introduces global standards, best practices, strategic planning, and 

specialized programs for outreach to women, persons with disability, youth, ethnic, indigenous, and religious minorities which 

are of particular importance in conflict zones. 

The challenges in Africa are both immediate, 25 elections are 

scheduled in the next 21 months, and imminent. Africa has a 

young population about to come of age and enter their society as 

adults. The Afrobarometer suggests that young voters will participate, but their expectations are higher and they will then drop out 

of the process if things do not change. 

IFES is proud of its record of partnership in sub-Saharan Africa. 

We are both honored and grateful for the confidence USAID, the 

U.S. Department of State, and our international partners have 

demonstrated in our capacity and commitment through their continued support. Mr. Chairman, and members of the subcommittee, 

democracy in Africa will certainly be tested in 2015 and beyond. 

The real tests are ahead of us. 

In 2014, there were more South African voters who came of age 

since Nelson Mandela’s first election in 1994 than the rest of the 

electorate. The rest of the electorate remembered the apartheid 

era. But that wasn’t the majority of voters in South Africa in 2014. 

The demographic challenge of the next generation—their aspirations and their fears—were made personal to all of us by another 

investment in their future by the U.S. Congress: The Mandela 

Washington Fellows attending last summer’s U.S.-Africa Leaders 

Summit. 

There are no final victories in politics, or elections, or democracy. 

The challenges will always be ahead of us. Democracy is not measured in one moment, one election, one success, or one failure. It is 

an ongoing process, and one that the International Foundation for 

Electoral Systems is committed to support. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Sweeney follows:]

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Mr. EMMER. Thank you, Mr. Sweeney. 

Ms. Birkle. 

STATEMENT OF MS. GRETCHEN BIRKLE, REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR AFRICA, INTERNATIONAL REPUBLICAN INSTITUTE 

Ms. BIRKLE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Bass, 

and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for this opportunity 

to testify on election support in Africa. Given how many Africans 

will head to the polls in 2015 and over the next several years, preparing is extremely timely. The International Republic Institute in 

Africa works to encourage democracy in places where it is absent, 

help democracy become more effective where it is in danger, and 

share best practices where democracy is flourishing. 

While there are best practices that can serve as models for other 

countries, there are also broader challenges that could hinder elections in Africa. I would like to highlight four of those broader challenges today. Many African states have made steady progress toward developing and consolidating democracy following centuries of 

colonialism and underdevelopment, yet, genuine multi-party democracy has yet to take root in most countries and this is the first 

challenge to highlight as we look at elections in these countries. 

The limited capacity of political parties to govern, that is, to exercise legitimate authority and provide basic services to citizens is 

contributing to increasing citizen distrust and apathy, low voter 

turnout, and a failure of expectations of democracy among many 

Africans throughout the continent. 

A second challenge is the pervasive trend to attempt to change 

the rules of the game. Specifically, there are increasing attempts 

to change laws and yes, even constitutions, to evade term limits. 

Once in power, leaders often have no desire to foster peaceful, political transitions and instead openly work to change the rules to 

stay in power. These attempts to change the rules of the game have 

not gone unnoticed by the people of Africa. Citizens are now protesting against incumbents who are seeking to extend their term 

in office and unfortunately, these protests often turn violent like 

we saw last October in Burkina Faso. 

What happened in Burkina Faso has had a significant impact on 

the region and citizens in each country are keeping an eye on their 

neighbors. As an opposition Member of Parliament from Kinshasa 

recently told me here in Washington, DC, people in Burundi have 

seen how the Congolese stood up and the Congolese saw how the 

people in Burkina Faso stood up. The upcoming elections in DRC 

are important not only for DRC, but for all of Africa. This underscores the critical need to look at elections and the challenges impacting them along regional lines and not only in isolation for each 

country. 

A third challenge that could impact the outcome of elections in 

Africa is the huge youth demographic on the continent. The region 

has the youngest population in the world with two-thirds of its 1 

billion population under the age of 25 and half of the population 

under the age of 19. This means that for many youth, elections set 

to occur over the next few years will present the first opportunity 

for them to exercise their right to vote. Tapping into the voices and 

desires of young people is a challenge for the region, but one that 

39

holds extraordinary potential for ushering in new leaders with new 

ideas. African nations must find ways to engage their growing 

youth populations to participate positively in the electoral process 

and help shape the future trajectory of their individual countries 

and the region as a whole. 

The fourth challenge is the potential for electoral violence and 

ongoing civil conflict. 2015 will be a year of contentious politics 

where preexisting tensions will intersect with elections. There is an 

urgency to devise strategies now to prevent and manage electoral 

violence. This is critical since recurring electoral violence may 

cause citizens to lose faith in democratization. 

Now looking forward, it is imperative to view elections as a process, not a single event. Continued support is needed between elections in order to see sustainable progress. For example, now is the 

critical time to support aid efforts to encourage broad-based and inclusive strategies for mobilizing voters, particularly marginalized 

populations such as youth. Citizen engagement and conflict prevention efforts are important and are complemented by polling and 

programs that encourage political parties and candidates to campaign on policy issues, rather than personalities. 

Ultimately, the challenges Africa faces, leaders evading term limits, marginalization of youth, ongoing civil conflicts and potential 

for election-related violence, are all related to the lack of strong 

multi-party democratic systems. Once nations fully embrace and 

adopt competitive, representative, political processes with all of its 

checks and balances, then these challenges will be better addressed. We should support Africans and their pursuit of prosperity 

with sustainable democratic institutions and processes where all 

individuals have the opportunity and incentive to participate in the 

political process. And where peaceful, political transitions can 

occur, the people of Africa will be freer to pursue their political and 

economic aspirations. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Birkle follows:]

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Mr. EMMER. Thank you, Ms. Birkle. 

Mr. Robinson. 

STATEMENT OF MR. ERIC ROBINSON, SENIOR PROGRAM OFFICER FOR EAST AND HORN OF AFRICA, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY 

Mr. ROBINSON. Mr. Chairman, ranking member, members of the 

committee, I am honored to speak before your subcommittee regarding the National Endowment for Democracy’s support for elections in Africa. 

NED began funding civil society organizations working on elections in Africa 25 years ago when we made the first such grant to 

an organization called GERDDES to monitor the historic elections 

in Benin in 1990. Last year, NED made nearly 250 grants in Africa 

and as many as half of these supported election processes in some 

way. Since the critical role of elections in Africa has already been 

recognized, I will focus on how NED engages in Africa on elections. 

Elections are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for democracy. Concerning elections, NED supports NGOs that provide civic 

education, monitor rights violations, and provide forums for citizens to express their views. Currently, many African leaders have 

attempted to change the constitution to enable them to run for 

more than two terms, and civil society groups have raised the 

alarm. This was most recently so in the case of DRC which is 

NED’s largest program in Africa. Most of our nearly 50 partners 

in DRC have focused on the current political process including elections later this year and next year. 

Elections give citizens and institutions practice, knowledge, and 

familiarity with democratic culture. Even flawed elections can provide space for civil society to conduct civic education. And in relatively closed political environments such as Sudan, Chad, Rwanda, or Ethiopia, NED is supporting civic groups that work in a limited space with the aim of expanding it and laying the foundation 

for a future democratic dispensation. Elections are not a 1-day 

event. NED supports domestic observation groups that may follow 

the process for months or years beforehand. Our grantees have advised electoral commissions, observed and supported voter registration, audited voter lists, monitored media, and organized debates 

and voter forums. 

Elections can serve as a means of conflict resolution, but they 

can also lead to violence. Therefore, we have supported groups promoting peace and resolving conflict, often in the context of elections. Through CIPE, NED supported the Kenya Association of 

Manufacturers which played a role in ending the violence after the 

2007 elections. Currently in Nigeria, we have grantees that train 

citizens in the north on conflict resolution and the women’s organization promoting Christian-Muslim dialogue. These are but a few 

examples. 

Africa is the world’s youngest continent and as demonstrated in 

Senegal and Burkina Faso last year, youth are moving to the front 

line of political change whether through elections or popular uprising. In partnership with the World Movement for Democracy, just 

last weekend NED brought together nearly 100 young democratic 

activists from across Africa to share experiences and information 

49

regarding these transitions. NED’s partners engage youth in election processes, pointing them in a positive, democratic direction. 

Women have been politically marginalized in much of Africa, but 

when given the chance have provided tremendous leadership in 

civil society and government. NED is supporting IRI and NDI to 

cultivate women’s political leadership and the Solidarity Center is 

working with women to expand their role within unions and labor 

associations in Africa. With NED funds, the Nigerian Federation of 

Women produced television programs promoting women’s participation in these upcoming elections. In Somaliland, women and youth 

organizations provided nearly all the monitors for their successful 

elections. And in Uganda, CEWIGO has had success in cultivating 

a new generation of female politicians. 

We have often seen in Africa that today’s democratic champion 

can become tomorrow’s despot, so we don’t pick a winner. NED respects pluralism and the political process in support of free and fair 

elections. Normally, party training is not conducted within 30 days 

of an election. Funds may not support the candidacy of candidates 

for public office, and by and large, whatever political loyalties our 

partners may have, their programs are nonpartisan. 

And the politics of the belly still rules much of Africa, meaning 

that political office often affords the best opportunity for securing 

material wealth through patronage. NED has supported groups 

conducting investigative reporting and campaigns against corruption. Our partners help citizens understand that elected officials 

are their representatives, not their patrons, and that they should 

not sell their vote for a bag of rice as NAYMOTE, a long-time Liberian grantee, successfully campaigned. 

Africans want elections. Even if citizens in some countries are 

apprehensive about election violence, corruption and impunity have 

caused apathy. NED’s partners support participation and mobilization and those who have observed elections in Africa can testify to 

the commitment and enthusiasm of voters who may stand in line 

for hours. 

Elections and democracy may still be a work in progress in Africa. We and our grantees are optimistic about the future. 

Mr. Chairman, ranking member, and members of the committee, 

I look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Robinson follows:]

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Mr. EMMER. Mr. Merloe. 

STATEMENT OF MR. PATRICK MERLOE, DIRECTOR OF ELECTORAL PROGRAMS AND SENIOR ASSOCIATE, NATIONAL 

DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTE 

Mr. MERLOE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Bass, 

distinguished members of the subcommittee and thank you for entering our full statements into the record. I associate myself with 

the comments of my colleagues and will not be repetitive of their 

remarks. Rather, I will concentrate on our concerns and eight recommendations that were presented in my statement. 

Mr. Chairman, NDI has worked in 43 African countries on a 

wide variety of democracy-support programs including partnering 

with political parties, parliaments, civil society groups, and democratic reformers in government in more than 100 elections, plus we 

have observed international elections in Africa in 49 examples in 

24 African countries. 

The vast majority of these programs have been made possible by 

USAID, the NED, and DRL. And we greatly appreciate the trust 

that they have placed in the Institute to conduct programs that 

correspond with the vital interests of the people of this country and 

correspond with the democratic aspirations of the people of those 

African states. 

I would like to use your example, Mr. Chairman, of Kenya, if I 

may. Kenya’s 2007 elections demonstrated the horrific consequences of the lack of diligence by citizens and the international 

community. While the 2013 elections and the interim period between those two demonstrated the positive consequences of concerted efforts to build democratic institutions and processes. 

If Kenya’s 2017 elections are to move forward and avoid the possibility of falling back into violence and other problems, concerted 

efforts and focused international support is needed beginning now 

and moving forward. This is a lesson that should be applied across 

the continent when we look at elections and democratic support. 

The need for sustained, long-term, and multifaceted support for organizing peaceful, credible elections in Africa stands out in many 

examples beyond Kenya. The risks for failing to achieve them are 

extraordinarily high, while the benefits for governing, stability, and 

for inclusive authentic development are essential to progress on the 

continent. 

Yet, there appears to be decreasing levels of support for democratic governance in Africa and a concentration on a small number 

of countries. This could have an unintended negative consequence, 

not just on organizing peaceful elections, but on democratic development, which is a cause for concern. 

Public confidence and credibility of elections is vital to public 

trust in government. That trust is important for government stability which is essential to peace and security. This is particularly 

important today when we are challenged internationally by extraordinarily violent forces that reject democracy and human 

rights. 

Support for democratic elections in Africa should build long-term 

democratic, political dynamics. The support should include encouraging reform of winner-take-all political systems and related poliVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:16 May 19, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 F:\WORK\_AGH\031815\93820 SHIRL
55

tics. This can contribute to effective democracy that roots out corruption, improves lives, and reduces the possibility for political violence. Political parties that engage citizens on issues concerning 

improving their lives, rather than on personalities, on ethnicity, 

tribe, or religion are essential to developing peaceful, democratic 

elections and democratic governance in Africa. Electoral support 

needs to help political parties build capacities, structures, and communication mechanisms in this respect. 

Party programming needs to encompass political steps that lead 

to the camps eschewing electoral violence. Support also should bolster parties’ capacity to improve legal frameworks to verify the accuracy of key electoral processes and to gather the evidence that 

is necessary to pursue effective legal redress. 

Mr. Chairman, citizen election monitoring is critical to support 

for African elections. Monitoring and advocacy by African citizen 

groups are making a sustained contribution to peaceful, credible 

elections by witnessing key election processes over the long arc of 

elections, for analyzing electoral data, making and reporting findings, and for making recommendations for improvements in electoral and political processes. Election monitoring spread across the 

continent through a peer-to-peer approach that included assistance 

to developing expertise and then helping experts move to other 

countries to bring with them the best techniques and core organizational structures that are needed. NDI’s experience in assisting 

those groups demonstrates that organizational development and 

skills consolidation is difficult to sustain when support is limited 

to short periods immediately before elections. 

Many of these groups have formed subregional networks. Those 

networks help each other and they all come together in the Global 

Network for Citizen Election Monitoring (GNDEM), which has over 

200 member organizations in 82 countries, 37 of them in Africa. In 

that network, they provide skill sharing, best practices, they adopt 

innovations, and they build solidarity for one another when pressure comes upon those groups. 

Electoral support should focus on aiding these groups and on the 

professional development of these regional and global networks 

based upon the ethical foundations that are provided in the Declaration of Global Principles that GNDEM, the global network, has 

provided, launched by the United Nations Secretariat in 2012. 

Mr. Chairman, parallel vote tabulations, as Mr. Postel mentioned, by citizen organizations play a key role in decreasing political volatility and mitigating potential for violence. The precision of 

PVTs in gauging whether the voting and counting processes support an honest result and in projecting statistically with large degrees of confidence and low margins of error, are important for 

building public confidence in elections as was the case cited most 

recently in Zambia, but also it has been true in Ghana and other 

places around the continent. In fact, NDI has assisted the successful implementation of 38 parallel vote tabulations in more than 11 

African countries, and these techniques are being taken up in other 

places. Support for Africa elections should prioritize the assistance 

to these nonpartisan election monitoring groups, particularly to 

take up systematic assessments of election processes. 

56

Let me conclude by addressing briefly international election observation, which can play an important role in achieving peaceful, 

credible elections in Africa. The key organizations that engage in 

international observation come together in coordinating their efforts increasingly and harmonizing their findings in a process that 

is built around the Declaration of Principles for International Election Observations launched at the United Nations Secretariat in 

2005. The African Union, ECOWAS, Francophonie, and other African groups come together in this process with EU, the OSCE, the 

OAS, Carter Center, NDI, and the other convening organizations in 

order to help build best practices and some peer accountability. 

Support for African elections should provide assistance for key organizations to fully engage in that implementation process. This 

could significantly reduce the potential for well-known international organizations issuing different findings about African elections. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Merloe follows:]

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Mr. EMMER. Thank you, Mr. Merloe. 

I will recognize myself to start. I will note that Mr. Clawson has 

joined the subcommittee and everybody this morning had many different conflicts. 

Mr. CLAWSON. I had three at once, so please don’t take offense. 

Sorry about that. 

Mr. EMMER. If you have any opening remarks that you want to 

make at this point? 

Mr. CLAWSON. I never come to a party late and then start talking 

right away. I will jump in the game in a little while. I am glad you 

all came and glad for the service that you all do for so many folks 

around the world, so thank you for coming today. Thanks. 

Mr. EMMER. Mr. Sweeney, I want to start with you. You made 

the reference that young Africans’ expectations are higher. I think 

I know what that means, but could you just expand on that part 

of your testimony? 

Mr. SWEENEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Simply put, the patience of the younger generation around the world is much lower 

than the patience of old folks like myself. Particularly in Africa, we 

are seeing an expectation, a demand, that things change and 

things change quickly. And that means that the political process 

has to be responsive to those demands or else they drop out. And 

given the size of that population, that then becomes a threat to the 

stability of their countries and their cultures going forward because 

they will come back into the system in some way, in an angry way, 

perhaps, as we have seen in other countries. 

In Africa, when you look at the demographics, and particularly 

go back to South Africa where in talking with friends of mine on 

the South African Election Commission, I said what is your greatest challenge? And they said a majority of voters have no memory 

of apartheid. They have no memory of Nelson Mandela’s entire 

struggle because they came of age since he was elected President. 

That is an enormous challenge in terms of civic education, in terms 

of trying to do outreach among those citizens. In other countries in 

the Middle East, we see the same problem right now where people 

have participated in elections, those elections have not had consequences that they imagined or desire, and they are dropping out 

of the process. 

Mr. EMMER. And I appreciate you focusing it on Africa and some 

other places, but when you opened it, I think the ranking member 

and I agree that I think the statement is applicable all around the 

globe that the younger folks have less patience. 

Ms. BASS. We were young once. We remember that. 

Mr. EMMER. I am still very young, but thank you for recognizing 

that. 

Mr. Sweeney, USAID has a booklet acknowledging the entirety 

of the election cycle, so the understanding and importance of the 

whole process. Do you believe funding is the major reason why 

such programming is more limited than it might be? 

Mr. SWEENEY. I think there is a combination, sir. The first, obviously, is funding. All development agencies around the world engage in democracy and governance have had funding issues over 

the course of the last few years, both because of the fiscal crisis 

and competing demands. 

65

The second is, candidly, this field has become much more robust 

and we have become much more sophisticated and as such all of 

the organizations have spawned other organizations so there is a 

greater demand than there was say when I was doing my first mission with NDI and IRI doing political training in Hungary and the 

Berlin Wall was still up. This investment in the philosophy of democracy has attracted hundreds of organizations, both global and 

national, that are doing great work. And that places greater demands on grant-making organizations be they NED or USAID or 

any of the other foundations or international donors. 

Mr. EMMER. Thank you. Ms. Birkle, you state that parties are too 

personality driven. By the way, Mr. Merloe referenced this as well. 

And we will stay on this, but it caught me, the quote caught me 

that we need people to focus on campaign issues, rather than personalities. I think that is probably a global issue, too. 

Ms. BASS. Sounds familiar. 

Mr. EMMER. Yes, just a little bit. But if you can, has there been 

measurable success in helping African political parties create coherent party platforms that build sustainable party structures to 

select viable candidates? 

Ms. BIRKLE. Thank you. There has been success. I would even 

point to limited success currently in Nigeria where we have been 

working with USAID funding over the past 2 or 3 years and even 

when our programs first started in the late ’90s with political parties in Nigeria, to really have them embrace internal party reforms 

and the notion of issue based political parties. We have been able 

to have public opinion polls in several countries that have helped 

political parties understand the importance of issues and what that 

means to electorates and how they can devise campaigns around 

the issues to help them run more effective campaigns and really to 

encourage greater participation from the electorate. 

We just finished a public opinion survey in Uganda that will be 

released later this week. We hope that that is going to serve as a 

basis for many of the Ugandan political parties as they look to elections next year. 

Mr. EMMER. Mr. Merloe, since you brought up this as well, do 

you have anything you want to add? 

Mr. MERLOE. I think it is incredibly important that we look at 

political parties over the arc of time. Most of the countries that we 

are talking about in Africa started with relatively low levels of political organization. Of course, South Africa was different. The liberation movements were very well organized and needed to make 

the transition to seeking votes at the ballot box which IRI and NDI 

and others helped to do. But that level of organization has not been 

present in many countries. So first we start with those people who 

are seeking governmental powers which are sometimes coming out 

of those conflicts, where we are looking at an armed basis for competing for powers. And with that, there needs to be a kind of transition work that brings into the process lots of the population to 

mitigate the potentials for violence, including civil society playing 

a critical role. You can get through the transition elections and 

help those political organizations begin to take on qualities that are 

more like political parties. 

66

In other places, where you are starting with personality-driven 

politics, which as you noted is very well established around the 

world, it is helping people see that if they each stand separately, 

they are likely to divide the population that might support the 

change in their country, so learning how to come together in coalitions becomes a very important activity. And then, of course, if a 

coalition succeeds as happened in Kenya three elections ago, you 

have to help them learn how to be a governing coalition, which is 

a very complicated process in Parliament. So all of these things are 

necessary, and we have to work very hard on it. Just last week in 

South Africa, we brought together the secretary generals of political parties, opposing and government political parties, from 14 

countries in the SADC region in order to try to determine what is 

an agenda for strengthening parties looking forward on the continent in the next 10 years. This is a constant process. 

Mr. EMMER. Mr. Robinson, I have got one for you. You state in 

various ways that elections are not the be all end all of democracy. 

I think you started your testimony with that. In what way does 

any defunding complement USAID funding to ensure that democratic processes in Africa are built from the grassroots up and not 

just from the top down, kind of continuing on like Mr. Merloe just 

was? 

Mr. ROBINSON. Thank you for your question, Mr. Chairman. I 

think it is recognizing that it is a long term, incremental process 

when you start talking about ideas and concepts and seating them. 

So what we do is we look at grassroots organizations to begin that 

process in areas and places where people haven’t been exposed to 

these ideas. And by slowly tilling that soil, by pushing these concepts out there, at the request of people who submit proposals, it 

should be repeated that the endowment does not tell people what 

to do. We receive proposals from people, the programs that they 

want to implement. And so what we do is we till that soil, the concepts go out there, and then when some of our partner organizations come in and they have a very focused strategy on elections, 

on processes, the ground is ready. People are ready to engage with 

the actors that are in governing positions. 

Mr. EMMER. Thank you. At this point, I will recognize the ranking member for 5 minutes. 

Ms. BASS. Thank you. I just have a few questions that are kind 

of all over the place. I was thinking of the Nigeria election coming 

up. How confident are you, and I would throw that open to anybody 

who would like to answer, about the security issue. We understand 

that was the reason the elections were postponed, so what has happened? 

Mr. SWEENEY. I will take a first stab. The security situation, if 

you really follow the press and reports from the military, they are 

confident, at least so far that they have been successful over the 

course of the last 6 weeks. Of course, we are dealing with a terrorist organization that has threatened to engage in disruption of 

the election process and as we all know, terrorists only need one 

incident in order to claim some success. 

Nigeria also has a history of election violence between parties 

and factions. I suspect we will see some of that as well, so discerning what was normal crime on election day that does happen 

67

everywhere around the world versus electoral-related violence 

versus terrorist activities will be subject of some inquiry. 

There are numerous efforts, including some by IFES, to try and 

chronicle this to be able to exchange information very, very quickly 

using social media and other forums. The INEC itself has a command center in partnership with the security forces, so I think the 

entire country will be on alert as best it can be. 

Ms. BASS. Is anybody aware of what is happening in Sierra 

Leone? The Vice President, I guess, was just dismissed. He was 

seeking asylum at the U.S. Embassy. I didn’t know if any of you 

were aware of that which I think is unfortunate. 

Burkina Faso, do you think that what happened there will have 

a chilling effect or will it be hopeful? In other words, in countries 

that might be considering delaying their elections, given what happened there, do you think that sends a signal that maybe that is 

not the best idea or does it send the other message which is a 

chilling effect to the population to just, you know, go along and cooperate? 

Mr. Robinson? 

Mr. ROBINSON. I think you have seen the impact of what happened in Burkina Faso and DRC with the arrest that took place 

the other day. Some of the people that were engaged in Burkina 

Faso were there at the event and I think there is the perception 

by countries that are considering delaying elections, even in a 

round about way as they were in DRC that they view this as a 

threat. And so yes, this has been—they are taking notice, authoritarian leaders, in particular, across the continent. 

Ms. BASS. How do you think the populations are responding? 

Mr. ROBINSON. The populations, as was said earlier, people are 

responding like hey, it is happening elsewhere. This is exciting. 

But in Africa when someone comes down on you hard, they come 

down on you hard and they shoot live ammunition into crowds or 

people are just simply disappeared. So they take that to heart because they have experienced it time and time again. 

Ms. BASS. Mr. Merloe or Ms. Birkle? 

Mr. MERLOE. Thank you, ranking member. I believe that Eric 

summarized it very, very well. On the one hand there is a tug of 

war between people who would impose authoritarian regimes and 

people who have over the arc of history struggled to have governments that are representative of the population. And what happened in Burkina Faso, with people coming to the street, I think 

in many ways, inspired people not just in Africa, but also those 

who learned of it around the world. And as my colleague sitting 

over here, Dr. Keith Jennings, likes to say, ‘‘I haven’t seen many 

examples of people coming to the streets demanding more 

authoritarianism.’’

So they are not always successful. Sometimes, as we have seen 

in Egypt, they are beaten back. Sometimes they are attacked, as 

we have seen in other countries like in Ukraine being attacked. 

But nonetheless, what we see around the world is a consistent 

drive for having representative government. 

Now, we have a little bit of a discussion that is going on around 

this town about democratic recession, that in the last 9 years we 

haven’t seen as many dramatic breakthroughs as we have in the 

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10 or 20 years before that. But if we look at this over the time 

when World War II ended, when there were less than a dozen democracies after fighting the horrendous authoritarianism in the 

Second War World, the Berlin Wall was going up then, and military dictatorships were being established around the world. Colonialism was trying to come back and from that arc until today 

there have been tremendous progress. And I think that is very true 

on the African continent. My work goes around the world, but in 

23 African countries, I find this to be more inspiring than I see 

troubling. 

Ms. BASS. A couple more, and this is directed to you. You were 

asking—you were talking about the Nigerian parties and identifying issues and the Ugandan political parties and I just wanted 

to know if you could expand on that and one place I would like to 

go, I have never quite understood, I know NDI and IRI sometimes 

work in the same countries, but I really don’t know what you do 

differently. And when you were talking about political positions 

and all that it certainly piqued my curiosity, so what are you guys 

doing? 

Ms. BIRKLE. Thank you. In terms of IRI and NDI, we work very 

closely in many, many countries and Nigeria is a good example of 

that. Uganda, Kenya, there is a whole host of countries where we 

are together, but there are some countries where we are not. And 

some of that has just been choices because of restricted funding 

amounts or divisions of leadership to engage in one country or not 

another. And that is different globally. But in general, and with the 

International Foundation for Electoral Systems and also with our 

NED partners, there is a real very healthy sense of camaraderie 

and competition amongst the institutes in the countries where we 

work. 

Ms. BASS. So what perspectives do you bring? I mean I think you 

know where I am going. Do you bring political positions? Because 

when you talked about that, that is what I was wondering. 

Ms. BIRKLE. We don’t. You know, once we are working overseas, 

we really are working around issues that are germane to those 

countries. And so when I am conducting and IRI is conducting political party survey research, for example, it is really based on the 

issues that the people of those countries are telling us are important to them. 

Ms. BASS. I would love to see those surveys. 

Ms. BIRKLE. Certainly. 

Ms. BASS. And I don’t mean to just—I referenced you because 

you mentioned that, but you might do issues that are germane to 

the countries, but how you interpret those issues, so I would direct 

that to you, Mr. Merloe, where you come from and how you interpret that. 

Mr. MERLOE. Good question. NDI has worked since our founding 

in what you might say is a multi-ideological fashion. We are associated with the political party internationals across the spectrum and 

often bring them together in our work. We integrate Republicans 

and Democrats and people from various political parties around the 

world into our work. And when we are working with political parties on how to take an issue orientation toward their citizens, what 

we try to help them to do is face outward to the citizens and get 

69

citizen input. Let the citizens define what are the critical issues for 

them, and then help those parties look at research, this side and 

that, and formulate their own positions. What we don’t do is: IRI 

does not work with parties on the right, and NDI work with parties 

on the left. We work across the political spectrum to promote democratic, political dynamics. 

Ms. BASS. So you are going to come here and help us? 

Mr. MERLOE. We are not allowed to work inside the United 

States. 

Ms. BASS. Okay, thank you very much. I appreciate it. I yield 

back. 

Mr. EMMER. Thank you, ranking member. The Chair recognizes 

Representative Clawson for 5 minutes. 

Mr. CLAWSON. So if I missed something that you all said in your 

openings, if I am repetitive in some way, you all will forgive me 

because I wasn’t here, okay? So as I think about what I have read 

about what you all do, how you get it accomplished, I draw from 

my own experience in the private sector for many years and my 

own experience in my many visits to Africa. 

Kind of my starting point is socialism destroys wealth and it is 

tough to bring people up that way. Private enterprise, if it is crony 

capitalism is unfair and it causes a lot of people consternation because they don’t have private property rights and people that want 

to get ahead don’t really have a shot because those in power have 

got all the economic resources for themselves. And that too often, 

we are in one place or another. We are way too socialistic which 

destroys wealth because it ignores competitive marketplaces. Or we 

are in the crony capitalism bucket where bunches of a small 

amount of people have got it all for themselves and then everybody 

else is in the middle suffering. 

And then I say to myself well, try to do elections in that environment. Can you really do that? And if I was sitting in you all’s chair 

I would say in the countries where you don’t have private property 

rights, economic opportunity for folks, what is the point of trying 

to get elections, you know? People just are going to get stamped 

down anyway. 

And so it kind of feels like you have to narrow where you want 

to shoot and use your resources to where there is a match of economic opportunity with electoral opportunity. I am not even sure 

that is a word. Am I making sense to you all? And if I am, what 

does that mean in your own efforts and why are you laughing at 

me right now? If my question is way off base, you tell me, but it 

is how I think about things. Go ahead. 

Mr. ROBINSON. Thank you for your question. I guess I will start 

by saying that one of the things you are addressing is for NED and 

people with whom we work on the continent, it is the issue of corruption and I think looking at the issue of crony capitalism it is 

paralyzing. What happens when you have so much money flowing 

to only a few people and the business sector is not on a level playing field. People can’t compete with their own ideas. 

Mr. CLAWSON. And just to interrupt, the typical poor voter 

equates democracy with that crony capitalism? 

Mr. ROBINSON. What they see is wow, this dream of democracy 

that we have had for decades, is this what it is? And that is exactly 

70

it. This democratic dispensation isn’t coming through. However, a 

lot of them, just like many people around the world are able to distinguish they don’t say oh, you are an American, I don’t like you. 

They are able to separate things out. And people are also able to 

say hey, we still want the vote. 

Someone referred to Afrobarometer statistics. Afrobarometer 

shows very clearly that Africans support democracy. Africans support the right to vote. And what we are looking at right now is how 

do we do more forensic accounting in terms of the money that we 

give in Africa? How do we get them to engage to be more transparent in terms of how money goes in and how their relationships 

are conducted so that money is spent in the country to build institutions, to build confidence and trust in the institutions? And when 

you have again, like you said, crony capitalism or people controlling 

all aspects of the state, it is very difficult to make it happen. 

Mr. CLAWSON. Is my correlation correct or am I all wet? Is there 

a higher to what you just said? Is there a higher degree of involvement or desire to be involved in the political process when there 

is economic opportunity for everyone? Or is it more when there is 

less because people want change and they are more desperate or 

do you know? Yes, sir. 

Mr. SWEENEY. First of all, Congressman, I never call a Congressman who is asking a question all wet. 

Mr. CLAWSON. But you are about to. 

Mr. SWEENEY. No, I am not, sir. But I am going to say that we 

are all—all of us, without choosing—all of us are in the political 

change business. All of us are in the optimism business that you 

can build a democratic process where all citizens have the opportunity to exercise their political right and their human right to 

choose the leaders of their society. And that change usually comes 

about in reaction to the two extremes that you described the crony 

capitalism where the wealth of the country is held by only a few 

and not shared with the general society. 

Mr. CLAWSON. And I am a Republican and that is wrong. 

Just for the record. 

Mr. SWEENEY. I understand that, sir. I completely understand 

that. And I think your own interest in this topic as evidenced by 

you being here is a statement about your attitudes toward these 

two extremes, the one being where the country is being—the 

wealth and the power is being held by a few to the exclusion of the 

demands and ambitions of everyone else, or the wealth and the 

power is so distributed in such a way that no one has any opportunity and ambitions are frustrated. That then results in a consensus for change and all of us have been involved in some ways 

who deal with political parties or with civil societies or with public 

institutions and then making that process of change peaceful and 

legitimate and accountable and transparent and free and fair and 

that is a challenge of civil society. That is a challenge for political 

parties. That is a challenge to the news media. That is a challenge 

to the judiciary. And in my case, that is a challenge to the public 

servants who are trying to stage the election and make sure that 

everyone’s vote is cast and counted in a completely transparent and 

professional fashion to the satisfaction of all other elements. 

71

Mr. CLAWSON [presiding]. Can I finish in your absence? If you 

need to go, go. You all don’t mind staying another minute? Half the 

room is going to leave right now, but go ahead, continue. What you 

are saying is, well, go ahead, either of the other two that haven’t 

spoken have anything to add to that? 

Ms. BIRKLE. Well, I would just add and thank you for the 

thoughtful question. We recognize very much that there are limited 

resources that we have to do our work overseas. And each of our 

organizations needs to be very strategic about where we choose to 

work because there are limited resources. And then also to point 

out that we really do view nations as a process. And they are only 

one very important stage of the democratic development process. 

And while we are talking about elections today, there is a whole 

host of work that we will do throughout the course of an election 

cycle to encourage citizen engagement and citizen questioning of 

their elected officials, and programs that encourage citizens to hold 

their elected officials accountable and to engage during campaigns 

and closer to elections through debates, for example, or other outreach programs. So citizens start to really understand the issues 

matter to them and that their vote is going to matter ultimately 

on how they are governed and how that will impact their life. 

Mr. MERLOE. As I was reflecting, sir, on your question and I have 

had the honor of sitting with former President George W. Bush as 

he was setting up the Bush Institute. And I have had the honor 

of sitting with President Carter and talking about these kinds of 

things. It is not a question of what political point of view you have 

from this country. I think you are right. There is an interrelationship on many of these points. 

What really we are talking about is human dignity and people 

want human dignity. They want some control over what happens 

to their lives. They don’t want to be exploited one way or the other, 

whether it is a one-party state or whether it is a military dictatorship. 

And in a sense, I agree with my colleagues that have been in the 

private sector, though I have been in this work for some years. You 

have to be strategic. You want your energies to create something 

that is valuable so that you feel that it has been a good use of your 

time and efforts. 

There are countries where there are minimal things that we can 

do. There are nonetheless people in those countries who want dignity and want some kind of a representative government rather 

than what they have got. And there are some ways of working with 

them, remotely in small ways and so on. In other places, you can 

see that there is an opportunity to help those people take that next 

step. And when they ask you to do that, it is an honor to be able 

to help them out in the process. I am trying to get at the essence 

of what I thought was your question. It is a marathon. 

Yesterday, we met at NDI, and I am sure my colleagues and 

some people on the Hill met with, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai, a former 

Prime Minister of Zimbabwe who has been trying to get into government there. And part of what he said is this is a marathon: ‘‘We 

may be coming to the last 5 miles. That is when you need support 

the most.’’ And so there really is a challenge, country by country 

as to what you might be able to do that is helpful. 

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Mr. CLAWSON. Even after hearing you speak, I think governance, 

freedom, and economic growth are all tied together. There are great 

models of economic growth that ignore human rights, human dignity, and have governance by a small amount of people. And as I 

watch Africa develop, I am always worried that that model could 

be adopted if the correct crony capitalistic model that puts all the 

wealth in very little hands and the governance as well causes folks 

or causes the military or some other entity. And so anything I can 

do to help, I mean I am just a Congressman, right? But anything 

I can do to help I am all for what you are doing. I think it is a 

big deal. 

I hope that, if anything, my few comments today help you think 

about how to be selective about which countries and where the 

ground is most fertile to spend these kind of dollars in your own 

effort. 

And the other thing I guess I would say is the people out there 

doing this on the ground, that is not easy work, right, under very 

difficult circumstances. And so, if you will pass along my compliments in that regard, these are folks that have foregone creature 

comforts and other things to do difficult things in difficult environments. It is always easy in DC for us to forget that, right? It is 

easy to criticize those that are working hard for the benefit of their 

fellow men and women. So if you will pass that along for me, I am 

done with my little comments today and appreciate everything you 

all are doing. And I will gavel it out, right? The subcommittee is 

adjourned, right? This is the first I have ever got to do this, you 

all. 

[Whereupon, at 12:06 p.m., the subcommittee adjourned.] 

(73)

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