Wednesday at the Plaza Hotel as part of a project that aims to contribute to strengthening Legislative Assemblies and the consolidation of dialogue between political parties and their members, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) in partnership with the European Union (EU) launched a 3-day seminar devoted to capacity building of political parties, to be held under the theme "strategic planning tool for political parties." Nearly a twenty political parties represented in Parliament are attending the seminar.

The former Minister for Women, Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassègue, Program Director in Haiti for IDEA International, explained that political parties in Haiti have many challenges to be met particularly with regard to their financing, often tense relationship with the elected Parliament, the absence of a strategic plan that clearly defines their mission, vision and plans of society "a good knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the parties will not only allow the parties to better establish their projects, but as to the population to their choice based on a vision and a well-defined society project," stressed Ms. Lassègue.

For Raphael Brigandi, the Representative of the EU, the aim of this seminar is to provide practical tools that may accompany representatives of political parties "to make them better able to adapt to their environment, in order to adopt a strategic approach as proactive than reactive.

In his opening remarks, Frank Kayitare, Responsible for political parties at the headquarters of the IDEA in Stockholm, emphasized on the need for a vision of political parties, defined within a Strategic Plan "If the vision and objectives of the parties are clear, at the same time they increase the chance of their performance in the elections."

HL/ HaitiLibre