1. The Role of the Political Parties in a Parliamentary Democracy by Andreas Gross (Switzerland) (Political Scientist/Director Atelier for Direct Democracy St-Ursine, 24 years Swiss MP/ 2008-2016: Leader of the Social Democrats in the PACE Strasburg) Info@andigross.chInfo@andigross.ch www.andigross.chwww.andigross.ch Second Presentation for the Seminar org. by PACE & Parliament of Jordan Amman, May 30 st 2016

2. They are cornerstones in our big Mosaic of Democracy ! There is no Democracy without a Parliament and without Political Parties

3.   takes part in elections and tries to get as many votes and MP’s as possible;   is a central intermediate and intermediary structure between society and government;   is a institution with a connecting role between the state’s institutions and the people. ” “ A Political Party is a team of men and women, who:

4. Political parties fulfill six functions in the mechanism of a democracy: 1. Vote structuring (elections) 2. Mobilizing, organizing and integrating citizens who want to participate 3. Recruit the political personnel 4. Organizes a party democracy and regional sections 5. Aggregates interests and formulates policies

5. A good political party should: 1. Be successful in elections (good candidates, good program, active members, visible campaign) 2. Prepare, discuss, vote in Parliament 3. Articulate needs and wants of citizens and translate them into policies 4. Participate in the public debate, inform and convince the citizens 5. Coordinate and implement the will of it’s members and monitor this 6. Realize equality between men and women in all this, on all levels and in every sense.