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As the world's largest Muslim-majority country, Indonesia is a model for other Muslim countries undergoing the transition to democracy. The International Republican Institute (IRI) has been working with the people of Indonesia to advance their country's democratization since the fall of the Haji Mohammad Suharto regime in 1998. IRI has worked to support the change to popular representation, strengthen the country's electoral system, and train political parties to address the concerns of voters.
Political Party and Candidate Development
Issues-based campaigning focuses on providing solutions to problems and addressing the needs of constituents. However, party platforms in Indonesia tend to focus on the candidate and remain highly personality-driven. IRI's political party and candidate training programs are designed to provide technical assistance towards the development of issues-based campaigns and party platforms.
Following the successful implementation of political party programs in the 2004 national elections, IRI has continued to work closely with political parties throughout the nation to help them develop and identify issues for political campaigns, particularly in preparation for direct local elections which began in 2005 and continue on a rolling basis until 2009. Political parties that have participated in IRI trainings increasingly are campaigning on issues that address the concerns of their constituents. Based on 2004 election results in IRI's program provinces, Indonesian voters appear to respond favorably to the parties and candidates with well-crafted campaign platforms and issues-based messages.
Public Opinion Research
IRI's Electorate Analysis and Outreach program has been another major component of IRI's activities in Indonesia. Public opinion research in the program has supported both governance and political party training. Polling data have been particularly helpful in reinforcing the benefit issue-based campaigns and party platforms. Data from regional polls have been analyzed and presented to political party leaders and elected officials to give them a better understanding of the concerns of the electorate. In addition, IRI has trained political parties on polling techniques to enable them to gather and analyze their own data.
Election Monitoring
Election monitoring is an important defense against fraud at polling stations on Election Day. IRI conducted an extensive party poll-watcher program in Indonesia's 32 provinces in preparation for the 2004 national elections with representatives from 24 political parties. More than 5,000 IRI-trained political party activists went on to train an additional 60,000 party agents throughout Indonesia. More than 900,000 of IRI's poll-watcher manuals were distributed to each of the 32 provinces. Party representatives were instructed on techniques for observation and procedures to make complaints and document irregularities. The 2004 national elections were widely hailed by the international community as being free, fair and open.
IRI continues its party poll-watcher training program in select provinces holding local direct elections. As result of the peace agreement between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) special focus is being given to elections in Aceh. Local direct elections in Aceh will now be guided by a new Law on Governing Aceh.
To help Aceh's political parties organize for the elections, IRI supports them as they prepare party agents and provides training to party trainers in all 24 districts of Aceh. IRI also assists the parties as they interpret the electoral law and coordinate with the electoral commission on the proper registration of complaints and documentation of elections irregularities. In addition, IRI will produce a poll-watcher manual as well as materials to aid parties to mobilize an effective body of party agents, able to contribute to the successful outcome of Aceh's local elections.
Governance Initiatives
Transparent and effective governance is an integral component of democratization. The local governance focus of IRI's post election program is designed to consolidate democratic gains following Indonesia's historic 2004 national elections. IRI's program specifically addresses the challenges of political decentralization which has been one of the main priorities for the government of Indonesia since the end of the Suharto regime. Accordingly, IRI's programming is being conducted at the provincial and local parliamentary levels and focuses on improving legislation drafting, coalition-building and the representational role of elected officials in the parliaments.
IRI is working with district-level and provincial parliaments to strengthen the capacity of legislators and develop strategies for elected officials and their constituents to interact. The local governance program also provides technical assistance to legislators on building stronger relationships with local civil society and advocacy groups.
Strengthening the capacity of legislators is a central theme to IRI's governance work in Indonesia. As decentralization continues to consolidate with the devolution of powers to the local level, and as voters become more adept at differentiating between party platforms and promises on Election Day, it is increasingly important for local parliaments to meet their increased responsibility to an increasingly sophisticated and politically aware constituency. IRI supports local parliaments in a program that approaches transparency and accountability in an innovative way: improving two-way communication between legislators and constituents through the use of information and communication technology, also known as digital democracy.
In addition to local governance programming, IRI remains responsive to programmatic needs in the tsunami-affected province of Aceh. Following the December 26, 2004 tsunami, IRI conducted field assessments in Aceh and identified the need to strengthen the capacity of local legislators to represent their constituents at both the local and federal level during the reconstruction period. In April 2005, IRI held a two-day conference in Banda Aceh addressing the role and responsibilities of elected representatives in a reconstruction environment. A majority of parliamentarians attended the event. At their request, a follow-up conference was held in June 2005.
Women's Initiatives
Since it began working in Indonesia, IRI also has conducted trainings to encourage and prepare women to run for office. For example, in 2003, IRI trained 400 women candidates and activists in East Java and Yogyakarta in advance of the 2004 elections. A number of women who have participated in IRI trainings have been elected to public office or achieved positions of stature within their parties.
IRI also supports the continued political involvement of women between elections. Integral to IRI's program is the empowerment of women party activists to advocate for greater policy-making roles within their parties and to encourage parties to include women in positions of central party leadership. By ensuring they have the technical skills and necessary support mechanisms to change entrenched perceptions - both among men and women, IRI programming aims to expand the pool of potential female candidates for elected political office, and to strengthen inter-party and intra-party networking.
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