15 NGOs funded under the grant competition announced on February 8, 2018, by the CEC Training Centre finished the implementation of training projects for the Political Parties in all regions of Georgia, aimed at supporting the Enhancement of Electoral Capacity of Political Parties for the Presidential Elections 2018.

Within the framework of the training programs, the participants were introduced to such important topics, as:

• structure, management (international practice) and legal status of political parties;
• political culture in elections, debates and electoral ethics (professional, ethical standards and communication with electoral stakeholders);
• equal opportunities of parties and candidates in electoral process (It is important that the module include the following issues, among others – access to administrative resources and air/advertisement time);
• public relations mechanisms (it is important that the module include the following issues, among others – relations with mass media and the use of social networks, political and electoral PR);
• the role of a party in ensuring safe electoral environment;
• internal party mechanisms for boosting women participation;
• personnel and volunteers management (it is important that the module comprise the following issues, among others – active citizenship and youth participation in the electoral process, developing regional offices);

In the course of implementing grant projects, the Training Center, as part of its contribution, trained representatives of political parties in the following modules: the rule of operation of the Election Administration, organizing elections (electoral cycle) and polling day; grounds and technique for drawing up a complaint/application, also the Training Center supported the training programs by providing sign language translation.

1858 representatives of 44 political parties (18 qualified and 26 non-qualified political parties) took part in the training course.