NED successfully manipulated elections in Nicaragua in 1990 and Mongolia in 1996. It helped overthrow democratically elected governments in Bulgaria in 1990 and Albania in 1991 and 1992. NED was busy in Haiti in the late 1990s on behalf of right-wing groups united in opposition to former-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his progressive ideology.
NED says that it is teaching the ABCs of democracy and elections to people who don’t know, but in all five countries named above there had already been free and fair elections. The problem was that they were won by political parties not favored by NED.
The NED maintains that it is engaged in “opposition building” and “encouraging pluralism.” “We support people who otherwise do not have a voice in their political system,” said NED program officer, Louisa Coan. But NED hasn’t aided progressive or leftist opposition in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua or Eastern Europe — or, in the U.S. — even though these groups are hard pressed for funds and to make themselves heard. However, Cuban dissident groups and media are heavily supported.