“Parliamentary monitoring” – National Endowment for Democracy

The Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) is using renewed Endowment support for a project to monitor party platforms and their implementation in Georgian politics. GIP is conducting a series of expert polls and parliamentary monitoring assessing political parties’ stated positions, and how closely their members’ votes and statements adhere to those priorities.

GIP created an online portal to report on the popularity of various politicians, parties, and positions, according to both large-scale polling conducted by other organizations, and in-depth expert polls conducted by GIP. The first poll of experts was conducted shortly before the October 2016 parliamentary elections, polling will continue on a quarterly basis throughout the project as parties begin to campaign for the 2017 local election. The portal also provides analytical content and commentary on polling results, as well as, blog posts, analytical articles, and infographics. The intent is to create a platform, similar to FiveThirtyEight in the United States, which can both aggregate and explain data in a way that encourages discussion, and which points to the ways in which public opinion is shaped by concrete factors.

To further promote issue-based discussion, and to foster a climate of accountability, GIP will conduct and assessment of Parliament 100 days after the new government is formed. The assessment will focus on how well parliamentarians have adhered to their campaign promises and how well the policies laid out by the new government align with their avowed positions. Following the assessment, GIP will host a roundtable with representatives from parliament and civil society to discuss their findings and to make recommendations for future progress

Finally, GIP will organize an international conference to share the project’s findings and make further recommendations. They will invite representatives from at least five major political parties, major Georgian media outlets, local and international civil society, and at least four European experts on parliamentarism.