TBILISI, DFWatch – Political parties in Georgia need to strengthen their internal democracy. This is the conclusion of a new report by Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD).

In the report Internal Party Democracy and Local Government NIMD names three challenges in Georgia’s democracy today: women’s involvement, youth activism in political parties and problem with citizens’ engagement in local government.

The authors of the report monitored the seven largest parties in Georgia, including the ruling National Movement party. They looked at what the current situation is in these three areas.

The conclusion is that political parties need to be more active, because today, there is a marked ‘male profile’.

When it comes to youth activism, the authors of the report write that ‘more efforts are needed from the parties to attract youth to political parties.’

The primary problem remains citizens’ engagement in local government.

As described by the authors, the population does not participate in local politics at all and even if there is some kind of activism, it does not lead to any results from the government.