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Since 1998, the International Republican Institute (IRI) has been actively supporting democracy in Moldova, which is faced with the unique challenge of being one of the poorest countries in Europe. IRI is helping the Moldovan people learn the skills needed to build a strong, stable democracy.
IRI program activities assist political parties in developing solution-based messages within the context of their party ideologies; building strong, nationwide structures to better deliver substantive messages to voters; developing productive media strategies to better utilize a nascent news media to reach voters; and increasing women's participation in the political process.
IRI has conducted message development and door-to-door campaign training programs, quantitative public opinion research, informational election law seminars, training workshops targeted at women's political party activists, political and governance communications training for locally-elected governmental officials, election monitoring and pollwatching training and message-based media training. As a result of IRI's efforts, hundreds of political party activists in Moldova are better equipped to communicate well-developed, substantive solutions to the challenges facing Moldovan citizens.
Public Opinion Research
IRI has conducted nationwide public opinion research polls to help political parties focus on concrete issues concerning Moldovan citizens during the parliamentary election campaign. The major political parties used the poll results to develop and calibrate their campaign messages for Moldovan voters and to effectively communicate those messages to the voters.
In the run-up to the March 2005 parliamentary elections, three centrist political parties used IRI's scientific polling data to identify key issues on which they could build a joint platform. These three parties united into a formidable political bloc called Democratic Moldova which provided Moldovan voters with an alternative to the ruling Communists and the center-right Christian Democrats. Democratic Moldova achieved nearly 30 percent of the votes cast on Election Day; the bloc's political parties are currently a part of a robust opposition force in Moldova's Parliament. The Communists and the Christian Democrats also used IRI's poll results to solidify their voting bases and to reach new voters with substantive messages about issues important to Moldovans.
IRI will conduct additional nationwide polling in 2006 and 2007 to assist the political parties in continuing their dialogue with Moldovan citizens.
Election Reform
In 2000, Moldova became a parliamentary republic by amending the constitution, and later the electoral code, to enable parliament to elect the president of the country for a four-year term. The electoral code and the Law on Political Parties formed the legislative framework that has undergone numerous changes over the last decade.
IRI, in partnership with the American Bar Association's Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA-CEELI), conducted election law seminars that focused on issues such as legal regulations on media coverage of political campaigns, fairness and transparency in the parliamentary election campaign from the Central Election Commission's (CEC) perspective, and election monitoring and poll watching activities. Hundreds of representatives from the primary political parties, members of various legal organizations and representatives of civil society as well as journalists and CEC commissioners participated in these seminars to better understand Moldova's election law and comprehend its actual implementation and administration.
Youth Leadership Development
Young people in Moldova represent great potential of future voters that will enable democratic forces be represented and run the legislative, judiciary and executive branches of the government and adopt democratically-sound and progressive decisions on the way to a modern, internationally-recognizable and independent state.
Prior to Moldova's March 2005 parliamentary elections, IRI, in cooperation with the Internet Access and Training Program (IATP) administered by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), organized four regional events that focused participating young people on the primary political parties' policy platforms by way of the Internet. IRI and IREX invited young people to these informal events which were conducted at Internet cafes in four regions. The informal events, which were attended by 200 young voters, served as a demonstration on how to access the policy platforms of the primary political parties via computers and the Internet.
IRI also organized two get-out-the-vote music concerts, in cooperation with the CEC, for university students in late February 2005. Several hundred students attended the concerts which featured a combination of popular music and encouragement to vote on Election Day from three well-known musical artists.
Governance Initiatives
Due to recent positive foreign policy changes and dialogues with the European Union, United States and other countries, IRI started to work with President Vladimir Voronin and the ruling Communist Party to modernize its message and its organization in a European context. The objective of the party's evolution is to become a European-style leftist party capable of moving Moldova closer to European governing and economic structures.
IRI, in cooperation with the National League of the Association of Mayors of the Republic of Moldova (NLAMM), developed a series of political and governance communications training seminars for locally-elected officials in 2004 and early 2005. The seminars covered the role of local public administration in election campaigns, evolution of the public administration system in Moldova, modern electoral techniques, policy message development and image promotion techniques. The primary objective of the workshops was to enhance local officials' capabilities in communicating with constituents. More than a dozen of these seminars were led by IRI, covering every region of Moldova and more than 300 mayors and regional counselors participated.
Civil Society Initiatives
Grassroots activists represent great potential for democratic change on the regional and national levels in Moldova. IRI provides financial and technical assistance to several nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and civil society actors in order to support the growth of Moldovan civil society.
Coalition 2005 is a group of NGOs founded to monitor and strengthen democratic processes in Moldova in preparation for the 2005 parliamentary elections. IRI has been supportive of the Coalition, working with member NGOs to inform political parties, the news media and civil society in comprehending electoral laws and regulations. The Coalition and IRI also worked together to improve voter education and increase voter turnout in the 2005 Chisinau mayoral election.
In the run-up to Moldova's March 2005 parliamentary election, IRI provided financial and technical assistance to the development and publishing of a booklet covering Moldova's campaign laws and regulations. The booklet explained everything from equal-time regulations in the news media to the rules of election campaigning by political party activists and parliamentary candidates. Published by Access-Info, a Moldovan NGO and a member of Coalition 2005, the booklet was distributed to 1,500 representatives of the media, political parties and civil society. Journalists were able to utilize the booklet to better understand campaign laws and regulations as they covered the campaign.
Women's Initiatives
Politically active women have a strong potential to promote democratic change within the political parties in Moldova, as well as within Moldovan society as a whole. In the March 2005 parliamentary elections, 50 percent of several parties' lists included women. Similarly, a majority of members of the election commissions and NGO representatives at the polling stations were women. There are currently 22 women in parliament, including the Vice Speaker of Parliament. Eight women serve in senior ministerial positions in Moldova's government, including Moldova's Finance Minister and Minister of Justice; 138 women have been elected to local government positions; two women serve as members of the Constitutional Court, and, Moldova's Supreme Court Chair is a woman. Almost 30 percent of parliamentary candidates in March 2005 were women.
IRI's women's program in Moldova focuses on enhancing women's participation in the political process. IRI assists Moldovan women in developing effective strategies to integrate themselves into the political and public policy process at the local and national levels both inside and outside of the political parties. IRI's women's program focuses on cost-effective networking and cooperation with political party leadership, independent political leaders and NGOs.
IRI works closely with women who serve in leadership and elected positions to help them develop policy messages and formulate strategies to communicate those messages to political party leaders and, ultimately, to voters. To further engage women of all the primary political parties, IRI designed and conducted an informational study trip to the United States in May 2005 for a delegation of five parliamentary leaders and one leader of a primary political party. The study trip introduced legislative and political leaders of Moldova to U.S. decision-makers in the executive branch, members of congress and congressional staff. The Moldovan leaders observed U.S. governmental processes and communicated their country's policy priorities.
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