Venezuela’s democratic institutions have been deteriorating since 1999, but conditions have grown sharply worse in recent years due to harsher government crackdowns on the opposition and the ruling party’s use of thoroughly flawed elections to seize full control of state institutions.

In February, legislators selected 15 Supreme Court justices who will serve until 2030. A nominating body had offered a merit-based list of candidates to the National Congress in January, but legislators selected justices from that list on a partisan basis.

Power in Russia’s authoritarian political system is concentrated in the hands of President Vladimir Putin. With subservient courts and security forces, a controlled media environment, and a legislature consisting of a ruling party and pliable opposition factions, the Kremlin manipulates elections and suppresses genuine opposition.

In what was a consequential year for freedom and democracy around the globe, Freedom House provided millions of dollars of support to human rights defenders in 132 countries, championed free and independent media, monitored elections …

Established more than 80 years ago on the core conviction that freedom flourishes in democratic nations where governments are accountable to their people, Freedom House is a nonpartisan non-profit organization that works to expand and defend freedom globally to help secure a world where all are free.

The constitution provides for a president to be elected for a four-year term, with the option of reelection for one additional term. Presidential candidates must win either 45 percent of the vote or 40 percent with a 10-point advantage over the second-place candidate to avoid a runoff.

Investigations into the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election continued throughout the year, leading to hundreds of new convictions linked to the January 2021 attack on the Capitol, in which supporters of then president Donald Trump violently disrupted congressional certification of Joseph Biden’s victory.

Freedom House measures the level of democratic governance in 29 countries from Central Europe to Central Asia through its annual Nations in Transit report. The democracy score incorporates separate ratings on national and local governance, electoral process, independent media, civil society, judicial framework and independence, and corruption. Click on a country name below to access the full ...

Feb 29, 2024 · Access Freedom House reports on Somaliland, see recent news and perspectives, and learn about our work in the country.

Overview. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011. A civil war began in 2013, when a rift between President Salva Kiir Mayardit and the vice president he dismissed, Riek Machar, triggered fighting among their supporters and divided the country along ethnic lines.