|
In August 2002, the International Republican Institute (IRI) launched a new program for Romania, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The program is designed to both stimulate demand by civil society for responsive government and to increase political parties' accountability with the electorate at the local level.
Local Civil Society Organizations (CSO)
IRI assists local civil society organizations (CSO) in building capacity for advocacy work and developing local advocacy campaigns. The institute offers training on grassroots organization coalition building and methods to influence political decisions. As local CSOs gain the capacity for advocacy work, IRI is working with the organizations to identify issues of importance to the community and build CSO coalitions to press local authorities and party organizations to address those issues.
Local Political Party Organizations (LPO)
IRI is assisting local political party organizations in expanding their citizen outreach and strengthening their county and local organizations. IRI offers training on topics such as relations with civil society organizations, fundraising, local strategies, candidate recruitment and selection and party activities between election cycles. IRI also places a strong emphasis on the development of local party youth organizations.
To complement the program, IRI has conducted several issue-based public opinion surveys. The polls are a useful tool in assisting local political parties in identifying community priorities and in providing objective, statistics-based information to construct or revise their local platforms and strategies.
Freedom of Information Act
IRI is working with Romanian nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and freedom of information law experts to build awareness of the law among civil society and to instruct them on what information can be obtained under the law and how to request that information.
Local Elections Update
The preliminary results of Romania's June 2004 local elections were consistent with the findings of an IRI-commissioned March 2004 national survey which showed that two-thirds of Romanians thought a major change in government was needed, yet only 42 percent felt there was indeed a viable alternative to the current governing party.
The bulk of the June vote for the county councils was shared among the governing Social Democratic Party (PSD) (32%) and the members of the newly formed and, as yet not fully operational, Alliance for Justice and Truth including the National Liberal Party (PNL) (17%) and the Democratic Party (PD) (14%); with the Greater Romania Party (PRM), Romanian Humanist Party (PUR), and the ethnic-based Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) in single digits. The introduction of the 5 percent threshold in local elections and the emergence in late 2003 of the opposition alliance combined to streamline the political makeup of Romania.
Yet surveys also show that as few as 13 percent of Romanians trust political parties, which makes them the least respected national institution. Parties therefore will have to work hard to dispel the perception of unaccountability, unresponsiveness and entrenched corruption in order to become true vehicles for democratic governance, and gain the respect and concurrence of the governed. Reconnecting politicians to the concerns of those who voted them into office and helping the latter focus on the people's agenda has been the purpose of the IRI's current program.
IRI's election assistance activities will promote an increased responsiveness of local political party organizations to citizens' initiatives by encouraging both local parties and local civil society organizations to be strong advocates for their communities in the national campaign.
Program activities will focus on three areas: developing messages to young voters, developing solutions to community problems and training youth leaders. The institute will support civil society's efforts on informed voter drives, get-out-the-vote initiatives, campaign monitoring activities and programs for women and youth in politics. In addition, IRI will work with political party organizations to improve their responsiveness to citizens' concerns, develop credible solutions for community priorities and vocalize these priorities with their national leadership.
Parliamentary Assistance Program
In the fall of 2005, IRI began a program designed to strengthen Romanian Parliamentary representation, accountability and linkages to the public. The program was a response in part to increasing public distrust in Parliament and slow-moving reform efforts. Indeed, varied polling suggests that public support for the Parliament has fallen precipitously since the mid-1990s to all-time low levels (a 15% approval rating in February 2006).
In response, IRI has begun to work directly with the leadership of the Parliament and its committees on one-on-one training and consultations led by U.S. and European parliamentary aides to improve transparency in the Romanian legislature and enhance citizens' access to public information in order to increase public support for Parliament.
The program involves NGO partners and the media to better monitor parliamentary proceedings and the performance of individual members of parliament. In addition to working with targeted parliamentary committees and members, IRI assists parliamentary staff improve the level of professionalism and transparency in their varied work whether in member's district offices or within committee chambers.
|
IRI has conducted democracy-building programs in Romania since 1990. The primary focus of IRI's work through 1996 was on organization building and campaign training for democratic parties and coalitions. IRI also carried out a parliamentary development program and get-out-the-vote campaigns.
