About NDI

Since 1990, Bulgaria has made great progress in the creation of a multiparty political system, governing institutions, and civil society. The country's 2002 invitation to join NATO and prospective membership in the European Union mark steady progress. Despite these achievements, the country's development is hindered by a disconnect between the public and its governing institutions. The widespread perception is that elected officials, particularly at the national level, are pre-occupied with struggles for power rather than addressing more important economic and social issues such as corruption and organized crime. This dissatisfaction was evidenced by riots in 1997 and voter rejection of the political establishment in 2001. Bulgaria's future political stability and democracy will depend largely on the ability of its government to engage an active, informed citizenry.

Since the first multiparty elections in 1990, NDI has worked with the political and civic activists who are building new, democratic institutions. These programs have been possible with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. As the country prepares for local elections in fall 2003, NDI is expanding on its previous work with the National Assembly and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), to support effective political representation by elected officials, strengthen the ability of NGOs to generate public involvement in the political process, and foster stronger professional ties between government and civil society.

Since 1991, the Institute has worked with MPs and district staff on initiating public outreach through casework, newsletters, public meetings, and media relations. In advance of the June 2001 parliamentary elections, NDI worked with party caucuses to develop constituency outreach mechanisms through which parties incorporated citizen concerns into their campaign platforms.

Since September 2000, NDI has worked with more than 550 elected officials and political leaders from the National Movement Simeon II, the Union of Democratic Forces, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. Following the June 2001 parliamentary elections, NDI's programs have focused on improving communication among elected representatives, NGOs and constituents. In 2002, NDI conducted a national poll on the state of the educational system and used the results to facilitate town hall meetings in which NGOs, parents, teachers, and citizens could discuss the topic with their MPs. NDI has also worked with NGOs and elected officials to enhance public outreach on such topics as electoral code reform and Bulgaria's efforts to end human trafficking. NDI's public opinion work on education prompted Members of Parliament (MPs) from Bulgaria's main political parties to conduct public roundtables on the issue.

In 2003, NDI will continue its outreach program, working with NGOs, citizens, candidates, and elected officials on issue-based campaigns in order to stimulate participate in the fall 2003 municipal elections. NDI's public opinion work in 2003 will focus on constitutional change and local government reform.

With a declining economy and growing corruption, surveys in 2001 indicated that roughly 40 percent of the electorate planned to abstain from voting. In an effort to encourage voter participation in the June 2001 Bulgarian parliamentary elections, NDI partnered with seven NGOs and two media organizations to conduct a multi-media, grassroots voter education campaign. These organizations formed a coalition called Ti Izbirash (You Choose), which implemented targeted voter contact activities, candidate fora, rock concerts, radio ads, and television commercials aimed at promoting nation-wide participation in the political process. By election day, a third of the Bulgarian electorate identified the Ti Izbirash slogan in a national poll. Drawing on the success of the initial Ti Izbirash program, NDI conducted a second, more targeted and sophisticated effort for the 2001 presidential elections. After the election, polling station data demonstrated that voter turnout was notably higher in those cities where Ti Izbirash was most active.

At the end of 2001, NDI conducted focus groups to explore citizen attitudes on specific local issues, local and national government, and the role of NGOs. NDI has shared the major findings of this research with political parties and civic organizations, prompting the first ever NGO-party collaboration on local issues in a number of municipalities.

In 2002, NDI provided a grant to a women's organization for an educational campaign on human trafficking. The Project received a special award by the Council of Europe.

In February and March 2003, NDI conducted assessments in Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia to analyze the salient challenges and opportunities to increase Roma political participation. Funded by and conducted in cooperation with the Open Society Institute (OSI), this project reflected the interest of both NDI and OSI to raise the issue of Roma political participation with relevant international organizations and to take the first step toward initiating strategic blueprints for Roma communities to enhance their political participation, representation, and influence. The three separate country reports offer the key findings and recommendations of the NDI assessment team in each country. The Bulgaria report was shared with Roma political leaders and NGOs as well as with the international community and potential donors.

NDI organized and implemented a targeted voter education and GOTV campaign around 2003 Local Elections in Bulgaria. The campaign called Ti Izbirash had the aim of informing voters about their rights and the choices they have. NDI's program worked in the direction to increase citizen participation in the political process and to build the political organizing skills of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) by training them implement GOTV campaigns in order to develop connections between citizens, candidates, and elected officials.

25 civil society organizations took part in the program. In order to reinforce the GOTV message throughout Bulgaria, NDI worked with its national partners as well as with two national media: Equal Opportunity Network (women), National Network Different Together (Roma), National Program Youth in Action, National Network One Society for All (disabled), Liberal Integration Foundation (Turks), Citizen Activity Network (labour unions), National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, Bulgarian Media Coalition, "Horizon" Program of the Bulgarian National Radio, and bTV.

With government decentralization under way, Bulgaria's 2003 Local Elections tested the parties' ability to connect with voters on local issues. As part of its programmatic activities, NDI developed a public opinion poll on local issues, such as environment, infrastructure, and public services. The poll, which was conducted in five municipalities (Bougas, Dobrich, Gabrovo, Pazardzhik, Vidin), also assessed the municipal governments' achievements to date and public attitudes toward the upcoming municipal elections. The results were distributed to civic and political party partners and will be used by the civic groups to organize public forums with candidates.