Direct Votes Home page
Direct Democracy Campaign
Referenda Society
Citizens' Initiative and Referendum
Campaign for Democracy
Hansard Society - Clare Short
Unlock Democacy
Direct Democracy in the
political parties
Direct Democracy worldwide
The Preferendum
Jonathan Freedland
Political Compass
Miscellany

Power Inquiry
Power is an independent inquiry to look at the state of British Democracy. Power is launched by the Joseph Rowntree Trusts to mark their centenary year.

The Power Commission, chaired by Helena Kennedy QC, will meet over the next year to consider evidence generated through an ambitious programme of public engagement events, and an extensive research programme.

Power has brought together an eclectic mix of commissioners including a former head of Margaret Thatchers Policy Unit, a Radio 1 DJ and the Chairman of the Womens Institute to look at how citizens can secure a real say in the political decisions that affect our lives.

On the launch of the Commission, Helena Kennedy QC said:

It is time to face the fact that low participation in formal politics is now a serious problem threatening to undermine our democracy.

The issue is not just voter turnout, as bad as that is, the political parties have been haemorrhaging members since the 1960s and polls show that people feel they have little or no influence over politicians once they are elected. When a government presides over two of the lowest general election turnouts and the two biggest street demonstrations since 1945, its time to start asking and answering hard questions about why politics is failing to engage with the people of Britain through the traditional channels.

For more information, visit the Power website http://www.powerinquiry.org

 

---------------

British Columbia (Canada) Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform
http://www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/public
160 people were selected at random to form the Citizens' Assembly, to consider Electoral Reform for the province. Their resulting proposal will be put to a referendum on May 17, 2005.
The referendum result:
http://www.elections.bc.ca/elections/ge2005/finalrefresults.htm
A threshold of 60% in favour was required to succeed, so the proposal failed narrowly with 57.69% voting for it.
If such a threshold is appropriate for referenda, is it not even more necessary for the election of a government?
The UK Government was elected with less than 40% of the popular vote in 2005. Surely a threshold should be at least 50%, and arguably higher.
Further, perhaps legislation should be passed on a higher threshold than a simple majority of Members of Parliament.

 

---------------


Makes Votes Count is the coalition that campaigns for a referendum on a more representative voting system. It has brought together all the organisations campaigning for reform, these are: Charter88, Christian Socialist Movement, Electoral Reform Society, Fawcett Society, Green Party, Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, the Liberal Democrats, New Politics Network, and Plaid Cymru. Make Votes Count also has over ten thousand individual supporters.

Our goal is to reform the House of Commons with a voting system that balances the principles of:
* Broad proportionality
* Stable government
* Extending voter choice
* Maintaining a constituency link.
http://www.makemyvotecount.org.uk

 

---------------

...and if you don't want to vote:

http://www.notapathetic.com/

 

---------------


Cartoon courtesy of Canadians for Direct Democracy
http://www.npsnet.com/cdd/

 

---------------

You need more than one letter to make a word

Because one vote is not enough

More than one word to make a sentence

One vote does not make a democracy

More than one sentence to make a paragraph

One vote in 4 years is a waste of time!

More than one paragraph to make a chapter

One vote to take away my choices

More than one chapter to make a book

I need more than one vote to share my ideas.

 

---------------

An article on Democracy by Anthony Davis, including a suggestion that Members of Parliament should vote by secret ballot. If the secret ballot removes coercion and corruption from the electorate, it is even more vital to ensure the integrity of our representatives.

 

---------------

Report of a local referendum in Swaffham http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/08/10/nbook10.xml

 

---------------


A project for open source government
http://www.metagovernment.org/

 

---------------


Emancipation is largely concerned with reporting on the events which promote or constrain the emancipation of the people of Britain largely as a consequence of how our political system operates.
http://www.emancipation.org.uk/index.html

 


Revised September 2009