The more than 140 GNDEM members, including regional networks and individual nonpartisan election monitoring organizations spanning over 60 countries on five continents, form this global network in order to better meet challenges for achieving genuinely democratic elections and to further our common aspirations for representative, responsive, transparent, democratic governance. GNDEM seeks to advance the methodologies for systematic, fact-based election monitoring and to advance the capacities of regional networks and nonpartisan election monitoring organizations through sharing of knowledge and interactive communications among members. GNDEM's approach reinforces the role of regional networks where they exist and helps them develop elsewhere, while it encourages individual member organizations to engage with others and to draw upon the global wealth of experiences and best practices. GNDEM accomplishes this through its electronic Resource Center, which presents over 1,000 best practice documents from around the world arranged by topics that were prioritized by members, and through facilitating interactions among members by using information communication technologies (ICTs) and cross-regional working sessions.
GNDEM and all of its members recognize that with rights come responsibilities, and nonpartisan election monitoring by citizens encompasses ethical obligations to fellow citizens – including prospective voters, electoral contestants, electoral administrators and others concerned with organizing genuinely democratic elections. Among these ethical obligations is upholding the highest standards of impartiality and accuracy. This includes employing credible methodologies that incorporate the best practices that are suited to national conditions and to operate in a cooperative manner with other electoral stakeholders, including election authorities, while not hindering or obstructing electoral processes or attempting to influence voters' choices at the ballot box.
