IRI Helps Romanians Prepare for Elections

November 8, 2004

IRI has been implementing a major public opinion research project in advance of Romania’s parliamentary and presidential elections on November 28. The fall survey research project outlined several key elements that point to likely deciding factors in the fall election. Perhaps most important is how the issue of corruption will play out with the voters. While Romania has experienced positive economic growth over the past four years, voters are not willing to give the ruling party an easy victory on November 28. The number one issue identified by 18 percent of respondents was corruption. Among the 18 to 21-year old sample, unemployment was the top issue with 26 percent of responses. However, corruption was identified as the second most important issue with 22 percent of responses. The survey also indicated that the ruling party has a serious credibility problem on the corruption issue. IRI’s oversample of first-time voters shows that this target group could well be the decisive bloc in the election.

Additionally, IRI-Romania conducted a series of training sessions in Arad and Sibiu, Romania, for its partner political parties’ candidates in the parliamentary elections. Designed primarily as practical on-camera training workshops, the training sessions were conducted by IRI-Serbia Resident Program Officer Ken Bricker and Regional Program Officer Hank Jones in Arad. IRI-Georgia Resident Program Officer Dimitri Shashkin and Mike Wintemute, who served as press secretary for the California Republican Party during the 2003 California recall, conducted the training in Sibiu. Topics included communication strategy, verbal and non-verbal communication, working with the media, and get-out-the-vote; and were adjusted on a case-by-case basis to best cater to participants’ needs and requests. The most substantial component consisted of on-camera mock interviews, critiqued for content by the trainers.

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