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Internet Democracy Party in Hungary23. April 2009 – 10:38 by Civil College |
There are quite new “applicants” in this years EP elections all over Europe – small-big European parties now eligible Europewide for nominating candidates for the elections (for example Libertas.eu)
One, not among these bigger players has recieved attention in Hungary, by offering internet demorcacy, as a way and basic construction for representation. 
By the volunteers run campaign, the party emphasizes, that they are planning to win one seat – and send each month one person from the supporters. It means, that by a number-generator method, 60 average citizen will have the opportunity to be a representative in the EP during the 5 years.
The concept of representation is simple – the party would like to develop from certain part of the salaries of the representative a system, which will make eligible the pary-community to influence directly the representative through a secure voting system.
Their presence in the politica arena two important things – people, without the knowledge of scientifical terms and concepts of e-democracy and e-participation (I know they don’t have) are reinventing things on their own way, only by “mirroring” internet to governance structures. The second thing is that people are seem to be open for these kind of political flicks.
Do you have any similar example in your country?
Tags: e-demoracy, Hungary, inenglish
5 Responses to “Internet Democracy Party in Hungary”
By Tiago Peixoto on Apr 23, 2009
With so many small / big European parties the EU Profiler comes in particularly handy. Check it out https://www.euprofiler.eu
By Civil College on Apr 23, 2009
Right, good tool- However, the party mentioned above is not among them…
By Simon Smith on Apr 23, 2009
The principle of rotating representatives reminds me of Ann Phillips’ book ‘The Politics of Presence’. One of the key problems of representative democracy is how to maintain the link between representative and represented. On the one hand, there is a tendency over time for representatives to ‘go native’ and lose touch with their constituency and its demands. But on the other hand there is a necessity for representatives to be able to take and change positions through rational debate in parliament, i.e. if we believe in deliberation as a basic component of democracy, then representatives should not have to consult their constituents on every single policy issue.
From memory, one of her suggestions was that a healthy parliament therefore needs both a steady inflow of ‘new deliberators’, but also a certain ‘protection’ from public opinion, since this is not always in harmony with the public interest.
So rotating representatives might be in keeping with the ideas of a politics of presence, but a monthly turnover would probably be a bit too rapid!
Phillips, A. (1995) The Politics of Presence: The Political Representation of Gender, Ethnicity and Race, Oxford: OUP.
By Tiago Peixoto on Apr 24, 2009
If the party is not there, there is a reason for that:
From the EU Profiler FAQ:
“Which parties are included?
Technical constraints do limit the number of parties included. While it is preferable for a tool such as this to be as inclusive as possible, we are confident that every significant party is featured in the EU Profiler. This means parties that are currently holding seats in the EP and who are polling to win seat this time around. The level of exclusion was very low, but higher in countries with a large number of single-issue or ‘protest’ parties.”
By Attila on Apr 28, 2009
https://www.youtube.com/user/ideodakampany
watch this!