AMMAN, Jordan, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- New report say two key democratic institutions in the Arab world suffer from lack of independence and need reform, according to a recent IFES poll.
The report, released in Amman Friday examines the state of the parliament and media in major cities in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco. Researchers reviewed existing literature, analyzed Arab and international experts, randomly surveyed professionals in the fields studied and surveyed the general public.
IFES, an international, nonprofit organization that supports the building of democratic societies and the Arab Center for the Development of the Rule of Law and Integrity compiled the report as part of a project to create the world's first regional system for measuring democratic progress.
"Civil society in the Arab region is demonstrating to the world that it is serious about implementing democratic reforms," said Keith Henderson, senior rule of law advisor at IFES. Henderson is one of the experts attending a conference held in Amman Jan. 12-13 to discuss the report's findings that include:
-- In Egypt, almost 80 percent of media experts agreed that government censorship significantly hinders media independence. Jordan was next with 65 percent, Morocco 57 percent and Lebanon 35 percent.
-- Only about a quarter of the public surveyed in Jordan and Egypt said the media can report openly "to a large extent." Morocco was next with 52 percent and Lebanon 68 percent.
-- Two-thirds of Jordanian parliamentary experts and about a third of their counterparts in Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco said parliament is pressured by government "to a large degree."
ACRLI conducted the research from April 2005-September 2006 in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and IFES. Detailed survey information is available at www.ifes.org.
