<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial
size=2><STRONG>FROM THE DESK OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL</STRONG> </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>What does democracy really
mean today?<BR></STRONG><EM>By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary General and Chief
Executive Officer<BR style="mso-special-character: line-break"></EM><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial size=2>In the
aftermath of the controversial Zimbabwean elections held on 31 March 2005,
questions abound about what constitutes a free and fair election. The South
African government delegation said the election was free but not necessarily
fair. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) took a similar view with
media and other</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial size=2>observers
saying the election was neither free nor fair. <BR><BR>The African Union has
reserved judgment pending further investigation into allegations raised by the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of problems with voters’ rolls
and more wide-scale vote rigging. It is worth reflecting not only on what
constitutes a free and fair election but on what constitutes democracy more
broadly.<BR><BR>Read the full message at </FONT><A
href="http://www.civicus.org/new/content/deskofthesecretarygeneral11.htm"><FONT
face=Arial
size=2>www.civicus.org/new/content/deskofthesecretarygeneral11.htm</FONT></A></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial><FONT
size=2><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial size=2>Best
regards, <BR>Eric<BR></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>-----------------------------------------------------------------<BR>Eric
Muragana<BR>Communications Associate <BR>CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen
Participation<BR>24 Gwigwi Mrwebi Street ( former Pim) corner Quinn St.,
Newtown<BR>2001 Johannesburg, South Africa<BR>Tel: +27 11 833-5959 ext no.
136<BR>Fax: +27 11 833-7997<BR>Skype: muragana<BR>Cell: +27 83
758-1032<BR><BR><STRONG>Join CIVICUS.</STRONG> Visit </FONT><A
href="http://www.civicus.org" target=_blank><SPAN
style="COLOR: windowtext; TEXT-DECORATION: none; text-underline: none"><FONT
face=Arial size=2>www.civicus.org</FONT></SPAN></A><FONT face=Arial
size=2><BR>-----------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>