37 years in the making – “a genuinely competitive, fair, and honest election in Lebanon” reports President Carter and his delegation

I received this letter from President Jimmy Carter today reporting on the efforts in the Middle East. Because many of you know of our support of the Carter Center’s efforts, I wanted to share it with you.

Dear Mark,

Last Sunday, something happened in Lebanon for the first time in 37 years: the nation held a genuinely competitive, fair, and honest election.

As millions of Lebanese citizens went to the polls to take a stand for democracy, I was there with a delegation of 60 observers from The Carter Center to provide an independent assessment of the vote.

Our team has created a video capturing the Carter Center’s work in Lebanon on Election Day to show you what it was like for us on the ground. After several grueling days of work, David Carroll, director of the Carter Center's Democracy Program, took time out to record this video for you from the region.

Please watch the video and pass it along to everyone you know who is interested in democracy in the Middle East.


As the election proceeded, all of us from The Carter Center were encouraged by what we saw.

Turnout was very high — especially among women — and there were few problems with the election administration. Crucially, the opposition parties accepted the results of the vote almost immediately.

This went a long way toward bolstering the credibility of the election.

But there is still progress that can be made. For example, there are no pre-printed ballots, so often voters use ballots distributed by political parties — undermining the secrecy of the vote. And despite the high turnout among women, Lebanon can do more to create opportunities for women to run for office.

After our work in was Lebanon was finished, I traveled across the Middle East to help build on the momentum of last week's successful election. I visited Syria, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza to help advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Click here to read my full trip report.

I hope you'll stay tuned for future updates about Carter Center efforts to spread peace and democracy throughout the world.

Thank you for all your support.

Sincerely,

President Jimmy Carter

24th Chapter of Luke -- Sunday School lesson at church with President and Mrs. Carter

President Carter taught his Sunday School lesson today on Luke 24, about the appearances of Jesus after the resurrection.

Square Dancing with The Carters on Main Street

Plains is so much like the little towns of Gilliam and Belcher where my roots are in Louisiana. The food was excellent; the square dancing was the best. We do-si-do’d with President and Mrs. Carter, along with our 200 new friends. Jenny almost swung the FFL (former First Lady) a little too fast. I will never forget the expression on Rosalynn’s face when Jenny’s finished the “swing and whirl” call. Overall, the evening was lots and lots of fun.

Tour of Jimmy Carter's boyhood home in Plains

We walked with the Carters to Mom’s Restaurant for fried chicken (like my Mom used to make) and awesome pecan pie (like my Granny used to make).

After a short train ride, we had a guided tour of Jimmy's boyhood home.

The afternoon concluded with a Secret Service presentation – learned about the Carter security detail and how they keep up with the “protectees”. Very interesting, although nothing classified was share (and the agent didn’t just make me say that). The POTUS was on the move…and the FFL was right there, too.

4/18 with The Carter Center -- welcome to Plains, GA

We began our afternoon in the President's hometown at the high school. He shared personal stories of his childhood, marriage to Rosalynn, start in politics. It added a lot more realism to stories I had read in his books “Hour Before Daylight” and “Turning Point.” (And the auditorium looked just like my elementary and high schools.)

1-hour dialogue with President and Mrs. Carter

We experienced a full hour of informal Q&A of with the former president and first lady. They addressed a wide range of topics on world affairs, mental health issues, and future vision of the Center’s work.

PR Efforts at The Carter Center

Deanna Congileo, Director of Public Information – in the final briefing of the day, Deanna reviewed the wide reach of news media initiatives and introduced many new features of Center website, http://www.cartercenter.org/

Visit to Carter Presidential Library

We enjoyed seeing a full-scale replica of the Oval Office as it was when Jimmy Carter was President. We also saw the behind the scenes operations of the research library. Plus, the grounds were in bloom.

3 executive briefing on peace programs at The Carter Center

Dr. John Stremlau, VP Peace Programs – highlighted the “bottom billion” of world’s population

Dr. David Carroll, Director of Democracy Program – shared the efforts in election monitoring to ensure equal suffrage, universal suffrage, right to vote, and secret ballot

Mr. Tom Crick, Associate Director of Conflict Resolution – detailed work in Liberia to instill “rule of law”

4 misconceptions of mental health: "Conversation" program at The Carter Center

We arrived at The Carter Center yesterday afternoon for the Ambassador Circle briefing conference.

One panel discussion was already in progress on Middle East peace efforts of the Center. The speakers were John Stemlau, vice president of Peace Programs; Hrair Balian, director of Conflict Resolution Program; Karin Ryan, director of Human Rights Program; and Sarah Johnson, assistant director of Democracy Program.



A nice reception followed so we could meet the staff and mingle with the hundred or so other guests.



In the evening, the "Conversation" event reviewed Mental Illnesses: Myths and Realities.

Mrs. Carter opened the program by highlighting that our knowledge of the brain and the biological basis of mental illness has helped reduce the stigma. And that a new bill was just passed to create parity for mental illness with other physical illnesses in insurance coverage.

Noted mental health and anti-stigma experts Dr. Patrick Corrigan from IIT, Dr. Ben Druss from Emory, and Charles Willis of the Georgie Mental Health Consumer Network addresses four primary misconceptions that are the most harmful to efforts to improve access to mental health care and fight discrimination against people with mental illness.

Myth 1: People with mental illnesses tend to be violent. (They actually suffer more violence against them)

Myth 2: Most mental illness is treated by psychiatrists and psychologists. (More is treated by general practice, and even more in school, church, and group settings)

Myth 3: These are conditions from which you cannot recover. (Symptoms are treated with meds, but the true causes are treated with a full network of support. Studies have shown majority of patients can fully recover.)

Myth 4: Stigma is deeply rooted and unlikely to change. (Contact with "real" patients can create greater dignity and respect)







The discussion will be facilitated by the Center's Mental Health Program Director Dr. Thom Bornemann.

The program will be posted in the archived section of the Carter Center website at http://cartercenter.org/involved/conversations/webcasts.html