On December 11, 2006 multiparty workshop on Political Parties and Strategy Planning was held at Sheraton Metekhi Palace Hotel, Tbilisi, Georgia. OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE-ODIHR), Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) and CIPDD organized the workshop. The representatives of seven Georgian political parties, the Dutch Christian Democratic Party (CDA) and the Dutch Centre for Political Participation took part in the event.
The workshop participants discussed in an open and interactive multiparty environment the importance of strategy planning and its role in the process of political institutions development. The CDA trainers shared Dutch experience in the field with the Georgian politicians. The Georgian side, in its turn, presented their own vision and analysis in the area.
Nel van Dijk, Director of the Dutch Centre for Political Participation, presented VoteMatch -a tool for assessment of the political parties and their electorate. The tool evaluates political preferences of the voters comparing them to electoral statements taken from election documents of political parties, thus calculating the proximity of the party stand to a voter. All the Georgian political parties at the workshop agreed on the need to conduct a similar research in Georgia. They also emphasized that it is key to conduct the project with the involvement of a nonpartisan and neutral organization, which at the first stage will evaluate the priorities of the parties’ members, followed by creation of the tool for the voters. The workshop participants agreed that Dutch Centre for Political Participation will start development of VoteMatch in Georgia in close cooperation with the Georgian political parties within the frame of the project “Political Institutions in Georgia”.
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