Protecting democracy during a historic election year

This year marks a historic year for elections, with more voters than ever heading to the polls. Yet elections are no guarantee of democracy. Amid this year’s elections, the wave of democratic backsliding is noticeable. There is a continued—and escalating—trend of threats against freedom of expression, free and fair elections, voter participation, civil society and independent media organizations. Voters are increasingly being targeted with mis- and disinformation from both domestic and foreign sources, manipulating public opinion. This fuels hate speech, xenophobia and gender-based violence online and offline. This has been exacerbated by the use of sophisticated technology including artificial intelligence, which can be used for good but also poses unprecedented risks for this year’s elections. 

These challenges underscore the crucial role of civil society and media in ensuring free and fair elections and fostering an informed and active citizenry. Since 2021, the Civil Society and Media - Strengthened Together and Advancing in New Directions (CSM-STAND) program, funded by USAID and implemented by a consortium of global partners co-led by Pact and IREX, has worked to strengthen democracy and address threats to civic space. This includes targeting threats that undermine electoral processes by ensuring civil society and the media have the capacity, tools and resources needed to support free and fair elections. 

As 2024 marks the biggest global election in history, CSM-STAND projects and partners have made significant strides in preparing for and engaging in election processes across the globe. Let’s look at three examples. 

Dominican Republic
In Dominican Republic, the Pact-led, USAID-funded Civil Society Strengthening Activity has worked to promote and protect the integrity of the country’s elections. While the Dominican Republic is considered a democratic “bright spot” after experiencing promising democratic openings, election observation continues to play an important role in the electoral process. This stems from loopholes in the country’s electoral code that continue to result in lack of representation, violations of campaign finance laws and limited enforcement of electoral law, among other factors.  

To ensure free and fair elections during the municipal, legislative and presidential elections that took place in February and May of 2024, with Pact's support, the non-partisan civil society organization Participación Ciudadana trained and deployed 700 volunteer national observers. In this most recent election cycle, the observers witnessed irregularities ranging from illegal campaigning outside of polling places to attempts at vote buying. The observations were reported on the web-based platform created by the organization called Atento Con Tu Voto, or Pay Attention to Your Vote! To further inform the public, the observations were shared with local media during a press conference at the organization’s headquarters and through a comprehensive report.

El Salvador
In El Salvador, our IREX-led project focused on improving voter education and engagement during elections. In the 2024 presidential, legislative and municipal elections, IREX facilitated multiple efforts with civil society, media and private sector partners to promote free, fair and transparent voting processes, despite widespread irregularities and a political environment that restricted freedom of expression.   

IREX launched a national civic education campaign with a local organization, VOTANTE, to promote voter participation and support Salvadorians in making informed decisions during the voting process, partnering with civil society organizations, academic institutions and think tanks focused on promoting fair elections. Together they worked with a local advertising agency and a national broadcaster to co-create and implement a campaign that provided the public with essential information on the electoral process, as well as voters’ rights and responsibilities.

This campaign ran for two months leading up to the national and local elections, focusing on youth voter participation by sharing content across social media and TV networks. The campaign reached over four million viewers online, with the videos airing more than 22 million times. The messaging was carefully crafted to ensure transparency and credibility, aiming to boost informed voter turnout.

Mongolia
In Mongolia, The Asia Foundation and its partners have worked to promote civic education and voter participation, particularly among young people. In June 2024, Mongolia held its first parliamentary elections following constitutional reforms in 2023, which expanded the number of seats in parliament. Despite the election's significance, challenges like electoral instability and low voter turnout—especially among disillusioned youth—persisted due to widespread political corruption.

To address this, the USAID Media and Civil Society Strengthening Activity (MACSS) collaborated with Lead Alumni Association, a Mongolian NGO, to launch the “Election Compass.” This initiative reached 2,245 in-person participants and 164,582 individuals on social media, including youth, military personnel and people with disabilities through activities like youth clubs, hackathons, student trainings and community outreach. In the Orkhon province, the team organized “Add By One” training for high school and university students, encouraging them to participate in the parliamentary election and sign a commitment wall. 

LEAD Alumni Association staff noted, “Despite being in the midst of final exams and under significant pressure, the school hall was filled with 250 first-time voters. Their active participation in the training and their pledges to vote, marked by signing the commitment wall, were highly encouraging.” 

These are just a few examples of the impact that CSM-STAND partners have made to promote free and fair elections and to ensure that voters are well informed and engaged in public debate. These programs have made significant strides to build media capacity to act as watchdogs to help safeguard election transparency, ensuring that elections are moments of free expression that strengthen democracy. Most importantly, through community-driven approaches – core to CSM-STAND’s commitment to local partnerships and Pact’s Engaged Communities approach – the programs are working to empower communities to build their future by advocating for their rights and promoting political accountability to strengthen and advance democracy in their countries. 

CSM-STAND is a USAID-funded, five-year Leader with Associate (LWA) cooperative agreement implemented to foster independent civic forces, enhance civic engagement and build vibrant, resilient and self-reliant civil society and media sectors that cultivate more pluralistic, democratic societies. CSM-STAND is a Pact-led consortium with leading global, regional and technical practitioners specializing in various sectors who bring extensive practical experience and knowledge of fundamental principles, key issues, current practices and emerging trends in the democracy, rights and governance community. The contents do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States government.