Date: Mar 14, 2018 Source: The Daily Star U.S. NGO to assess Lebanon’s preparations for May elections BEIRUT: A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit is meeting this week with “stakeholders” involved in Lebanon’s upcoming parliamentary elections, an official from the organization said Tuesday. Nicole Rowsell is leading a delegation from the National Democratic Institute, which will “be issuing a statement including findings from our discussions as well as recommendations to support the [electoral] process,” she was quoted as saying in a statement after meeting with Prime Minister Saad Hariri Tuesday at his Downtown residence. “We had a very frank conversation with the prime minister about his evaluation of the preparations and his hopes for the upcoming elections,” Rowsell said. The National Democratic Institute was founded in 1983 and works to promote “openness and accountability in government” in developing countries. The delegation from the institute is set to “meet with government officials, election authorities, candidates,” and other figures involved in the May elections, the NDI said in a press release Monday. The mission will conclude Thursday when members of the delegation will “issue recommendations for improving the process ahead of election day and for enhancing public confidence in Lebanon’s electoral process beyond those elections,” the statement read. The NDI previously conducted observation missions during Lebanon’s 2009 parliamentary elections and the 2016 municipal elections, as part of more than 150 similar missions across the world. The current mission in Lebanon, which is nonpartisan, aims to bolster confidence in the country’s elected institutions, help strengthen its democratic reform processes and deter fraud, according to its mission statement.