On December 1, NDI, together with IRI, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and Congressional partners, organized a gathering of more than 130 policy makers, democracy and governance practitioners, and members of the diplomatic community in the Members’ Room of the Library of Congress to celebrate the impact of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP) over the last decade, as well as look forward to its continued development over the coming years.

Following the Arab Spring, new opportunities for political participation opened up in much of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, particularly for women, youth and minorities who had historically been marginalized and excluded from power.

Against the backdrop of a worsening economic crisis, Venezuelans went to the polls on December 6 to elect a new National Assembly. The government of President Nicolas Maduro experienced an unprecedented defeat as Venezuelans turned out in large numbers and voted decisively to put the country’s National Assembly under the control of the opposition coalition Democratic Unity Table (Mesa de Unidad Democrática, MUD) for the first time in seventeen years.

On December 1, the Congress of the Republic of Peru awarded NDI with an honorary diploma in recognition of NDI’s contribution to the strengthening of democracy in Peru. Luis Iberico Núñez, the head of Parliament, presided over the ceremony, which took place in the Peruvian house of congress. NDI Resident Director Victor Rojas received the award on behalf of NDI. NDI Chair Madeleine Albright provided the following statement: