The Campaign Company Blog

Election Monitoring in Croatia

This is my second live blog from the Croatian General Election.

This afternoon I visited "Elekta" an NGO monitoring the Croatian elections. If we want to "make democracy work" then monitoring elections is an important part of the process.

Elekta officials, despite an incredibly heavy workload (they have only been in existence for two or so months) were happy to talk to me about the electoral process and where difficulties can arise.

In the UK complaints about elections are usually made by political parties. However what I have learned from Croatia today is that independent monitoring organisations at arms length from political parties may have something to teach the UK about managing election disputes!

Live from SDP HQ - Zagreb

Readers of this blog will be aware of the training work that TCC has done with the SDP in Croatia on message development and political communications. Our Managing Directors, David Evans and Jonathan have worked with the SDP for a number of years to help with the organisational development of the party.

Today it is is General election day in Croatia and the culmination of years of work by the hardworking team at SDP HQ. By this evening the SDP under the dynamic leadership of Zoran Milanovic and with a strong prime ministerial candidate in Llubo Jurcic, will hopefully be celebrating an historic victory.

I am very honoured to blogging live from SDP HQ in Zagreb having been along to a polling station this morning to see the voting.

If "Making Democracy Work" means anything, watching the quiet determination of the voters of Zageb to exercise their right to vote is a moving experience.

Earlier this year the the previous SDP leader Ivica Racan died. I was also privileged to meet him shortly before that. A SDP victory tonight would be a fitting tribute to the work of Racan as well as ushering Croatia into a new future.

Public Trust takes a hit?

The loss of 25 million peoples personal details by the Revenue and Customs department will no doubt be debated regarding possible fraud, government competence, and even information management issues.

What will also be of concern will be the impact on public trust towards public institutions.

In order for complex societies to function well the public need to have high levels of trust in institutions even if there is greater scepticism nowadays towards some of the individuals or professions (eg politicians) who lead them.

After a summer where there was a positive perception of public institutions responding to a number of crises (flooding, attempted terrorism, foot and mouth etc) polling in the coming months may now show a decline in levels of public trust. This could therefore be a significant new challenge for politicians of all parties. How politicians and senior civil servants handle this issue in the coming days will set the tone for an issue that could have long term impact.

Cameron/Engels - A new combination!

"Manchester became great in the 19th century when the words 'Manchester liberalism' stood for free trade and capitalism.

And of course the city also inspired another idea - Friedrich Engels lived here for many years and he wrote about the dark side of the industrial revolution."

The above words come from David Cameron's latest speech launching the Conservative Co-operative Movement at a meeting in Manchester last week. The days when a Conservative party Leader would say "there is no such thing as society" seem to be long gone when the current one can now quote Friedrich Engels in a speech!

He then went on to say:

"But capitalism and communism weren't the only ideas to take their inspiration from Manchester.

"In 1844, a few miles up the road from here, a group of 28 weavers and other artisans formed the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers - a local store, selling household necessities and owned by members of the local community.

The Rochdale Pioneers created the first successful co-operative in the world.

And for me the co-operative model represents an enormously exciting possibility for public service reform and the fight against poverty and social breakdown."

Whilst the initial reaction from some may be to deride Conservative support for co-operatives as just warm words, we should remember that only a few years ago many Conservatives would have seen demutualisation as no different to privatisation in creating only one form of ownership and that being a universal panacea.

In the same way that many of the successors to Engels have realised that a modern complex society requires a mix of institutions with a range of ownership - private, public and mutual - to create both a dynamic economy and a strong society, then the successors to Burke and Smith have also come round to a similar view. The interconnection between all these varied institutions can only strengthen communities and encourage engagement with them.

The Foundation Hospitals movement and the work in the 39 New Deal for Community (NDC's) areas to leave a legacy of community assets are already part of that widening mutual movement. They work at their best through a mix of public, private and local mutual initiative.

The fact there is now an even stronger consensus across the three main parties and beyond bodes well for greater support for this expanding sector in future.