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Since the 70s, Latin America has been experiencing a
transition from authoritarian to democratic regimes. This
shift has come about with the emergence of civic movements,
which - by means of civic educational campaigns, electoral
observation missions, (delete “fostering of”) citizen
participation, institutional building programs, transparency
promotion, among others - have played a key role in the
democratization (delete “deepening”) process. Nevertheless,
many countries (delete “still”) have yet to tackle corruption
problems, low voter turnout, the weakening of institutions and
political parties (delete “weakening”), lack of representation,
restricted access to information, etc.
Consequently, in September 2000, the Peruvian organization,
Asociación Civil Transparencia, brought together electoral
observation (delete “regional”) groups from the region at a
meeting in Lima, which resulted in the creation of an (delete
“supportive”) electoral monitoring network. This network was
called the Lima Agreement (delete “,”) after the name of the
agreement signed at the first meeting. Although a number of
these groups had previously developed and held collaborative
activities and (delete “held some”) meetings, this agreement
was the first official alignment of these organizations.
On November 6 and 7, 2000, the members of the Agreement met
again in Nicaragua. During this meeting, participants
discussed electoral observation methodologies, civic education
programs, political party networks, campaign finance reform,
legislative initiatives for democratic institution
strengthening, and citizen oversight of the government.
Additional meetings have been held in Chile and Mexico and the
members of the Lima Agreement have acted as international
monitors on different occasions.
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