NDI AND IRI WORK TO STRENGTHEN POLITICAL PARTIES

UNCLAS CARACAS 001049

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL EAID KDEM PHUM VE
SUBJECT: NDI AND IRI WORK TO STRENGTHEN POLITICAL PARTIES
IN VENEZUELA
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SUMMARY
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1. The National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the
International Republican Institute (IRI) are in a strong
position to facilitate the renovation/transformation of

Venezuela's political parties, building on the Qationships
developed with party membership over the past year, and the
institutional knowledge resulting from these relationships.
They are working with (primarily) opposition parties to help
them focus on their survival as relevant political
institutions through a process of party renovation and
strengthening. End Summary.
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POLITICAL PARTY STRENGTHENING
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2. Recent history and the intense electoral cycle of the
past year have left the opposition parties in a debilitated
state. Coming out of this cycle, opposition political
parties are beginning to accept - to varying degrees - that
there is no returning to the past; that President Hugo
Chavez and his supporters are forces to be reckoned with for
the foreseeable future; and that to play a serious role in
Venezuelan politics - or even to continue to exist as
political parties - they must work on the painfully
difficult task of re-inventing themselves, increasing their
capacity, and positioning themselves for the future.
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What's NDI Up To?
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3. In January, 2005, NDI began implementation of a year-
long, $500,000 project focusing on party transformation.
While NDI's work of 2004 focused primarily on providing
tactical advice as events unfolded, this year NDI's emphasis
is longer-term and focused on profound change. NDI's
assessment is that while there is resistance by some party
members fearing that transformation will decrease their
position within the party, the will exists at all levels,
including relevant sectors of society, to move forward. Of
primary importance will be the mobilization and engagement
of reformist forces (e.g. young leaders, women, civil
society) so that necessary change does indeed occur despite
the reluctance of some party leaders.


4. In collaboration with party stake-holders, NDI's in-
country staff are working to identify key issues related to
party reform. Experienced trainers/political consultants
will then lead party membership through the necessary steps
to achieve specific objectives. Facilitating the development
of strategies and messages that address the aspirations of
low-income voters is a high priority. (Note: Chavez
opponents made an attempt to reach out to this critical bloc
just prior to the referendum but did not succeed.)


5. Another component of NDI's strategy is to animate the
process of party renovation through rebuilding /
strengthening ties between affiliated political blocs in
Europe and Venezuela, primarily the Christian Democrats and
the Social Democrats. As an example, NDI recently sponsored
a visit by Elena Flores, the Latin American Director for the
Pablo Iglezias Foundation of the Spanish Workers' Socialist
Party. Ms. Flores visited three regional workshops organized
by AD whose purpose was to discuss future training plans and
party membership. NDI reported that the response by
attendees to Ms. Flores motivational discourse was
overwhelmingly positive - occasionally tearful - in large
part because of her affiliation with the European Social
Democratic movement and the sense given to AD membership
that they had not been forgotten by their European
counterparts.


6. AD warrants serious attention given its still relatively
intact (albeit severely battered) institutional
infrastructure, their history of outreach to the less-
privileged sectors of the country, their control of the
majority of professional organizations, their strong
presence at numerous universities and the fact that they
accounted for the largest percentage of the opposition vote
in the October 31 regional elections.


7. NDI is in the process of finalizing a training proposal
with AD leadership which will focus on party organization
and political values - such as internal democratization - as
a move to reinvigorate AD's once robust but now moribund
training program. The proposal is partially based on an
internal evaluation facilitated by the German organization
Friederich Ebert, and includes input from Elena Flores and
Guillermo Galeote. (Note: Galeote, also with the Fundacion
Pablo Iglezias, has many years experience working in party
transformation and serves as the NDI point person working
with AD.) Ms. Flores sees value in providing a forum for
much-needed discussions among the rank-and-file regarding
the future of the party, especially party leadership -
public discussions that quite possibly would not take place
otherwise. AD's recently appointed training director and 25
Regional Training Coordinators will participate in a
training-of-trainers workshop scheduled for late April,
which will include participation by Galeote.


8. COPEI, once Venezuela's second largest party, continues
its decline, abetted by intra-party rivalries over
leadership. In late 2004, an NDI consultant spent a week
working with party membership to begin a process of party
restructuring - a process that has since been put on hold
due to COPEI's internal problems. NDI has informed COPEI
leadership that a condition for future collaboration is that
COPEI link with other Christian Democratic parties.


9. NDI is in discussions with Primero Justicia regarding
possible collaboration on modern techniques of message
development and diffusion.

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What's IRI Up To?
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10. IRI began the second phase of its program of campaign
schools in January, 2005, with the signing of a second
cooperative agreement for $500,000. In the lead-up to the
municipal council elections in early August and the
parliamentary elections in December, IRI is conducting
campaign schools throughout the country, including the
states which were not included in the first year's
activities: Amazonas (where a governorship is at stake),
Sucre, and Falcon. (In March, IRI held a training in Falcon
State for 250 members of AD and the Movimiento al Socialismo
focusing on campaign structure and voter mobilization. Many
candidates running in the August municipal council elections
attended the training.)


11. Topics to be covered in the campaign schools include:
campaign strategy and organization, message development
(including working with focus groups),outreach (including
public speaking),fund-raising, public relations, get-out-
the-vote techniques, and candidate selection. This last will
be partly based on a candidate survey to be carried out by
IRI in April, complemented by a statistical study of the
previous parliamentary elections being analyzed by NDI.
Additional topics will be added as prioritized by
participating political parties. Where appropriate and
resource-permitting, workshops will be given on specific
topics for individual parties (e.g. a recent workshop with
members of Primero Justicia, focusing on how to carry out
polls by phone).


12. In addition to the campaign schools, IRI will be
bringing in consultants who specialize in party renovation
to discuss case studies of political parties in Germany,
Spain, and Canada which successfully carried out the process
of party renovation.


13. Using funding from the National Endowment for Democracy,
IRI continues its work with youth leadership in Miranda
State. In March, a training was held in Pilas de Marriche,
one of the largest barrios in Caracas, to promote grassroots
organization and voter outreach among the urban poor. The
training was attended by 40 representatives (of whom 36 were
women)from 4 political parties along with representatives
from independent local movements.

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GoV Participation in the NDI and IRI Programs
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14. While NDI continues to invite government-affiliated
parties to participate in their activities, to date only the
MVR-aligned Patria Para Todos (PPT) has agreed to sit down
and talk with them. PPT leadership had expressed interest in
working with NDI to establish relations with unspecified
sectors of American society, and to have local party
leadership in the states of Yaracuy and Guarico receive
training in political administration. However, this
possible collaboration has been put on hold, at the request
of PPT. MVR participation in IRI activities continues to be
minimal despite some efforts to reach out to the official
sector.
BROWNFIELD


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2005CARACA01049 - UNCLASSIFIED