Nederlands Instituut voor Meerpartijendemocratie

Georgia

The Georgia programme seeks to help political parties strengthen internal organization and foster inter-party cooperation.

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Overview
 

In the run up to the parliamentary elections in May 2008, the NIMD programme in Georgia has primarily helped political parties formulate their policy programmes, using the policy education tool VoteMatch, developed by the Dutch Institute for Political Participation (IPP).

 

Georgia Programme Review

NIMD focuses on the development of a voter education tool called “VoteMatch”

Georgia: State of Democracy

For Georgia 2008 will enter history primarily for its August war with Russia

More information

Political parties in parliament

• United National Movement (UNM)
• Republican Party (RP)
• Conservative Party of Georgia
• Industry Will Save Georgia (IWSG)
• Labour Party of Georgia (GLP)
• New Right Party (NR)

Key political events

• Approval in May of a new scheme and criteria for political party financing.
• Mass rallies organized by the joint opposition parties in November, followed by a violent crack-down by the police.
• Multiparty dialogue following the November events resulted in important agreements between the opposition and the ruling party.
 

Key achievements in 2008

• Political parties have maintained a high degree of trust in NIMD’s Political Institutions Programme and continued to cooperate despite the high level of polarization and distrust amongst each other.
• A total of 30 cadre members of the six political parties were trained as political party trainers to strengthen their parties’ internal capacities.
• Using the interactive VoteMatch tool, parties have taken a first step towards writing party programmes in consultation with their rank-and-file members.
 

Lessons learned

• Training political party trainers in a multiparty setting encourages the parties to discuss their problems, generating mutual understanding and cooperation.
• In times of political polarization, impartiality of local and international partners such as NIMD is crucial for the parties’ commitment and thus can influence the success or failure of programme activities. 

Key national partners

• Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD)

Key international partners

• Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR)
• Royal Netherlands Embassy
• OSCE Mission to Georgia
• Institute for Political Participation (IPP), The Netherlands
• Centre for Liberal Strategies (CLS), Bulgaria
• VNG International, The Netherlands
• CDA-Steenkamp Institute, The Netherlands
• The Matra Programme (an initiative by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs aimed at strengthening civil society in Central and Eastern Europe)