e-Democracy - the UK perspective

Peter Livesey

Mexico City 11 September 2001

Overview

• The Office of the e-Envoy• Why e-democracy?• An e-democracy policy framework

– context, concept, aims and objectives– delivery strands – EML schema

• Early experiments - lessons learned

e-governmenta strategic framework for public services in the Information Age

http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2000/delivery/e-gov.pdf

Champions

• Prime Minister

• e-Envoy

Andrew Pinder

• Patricia Hewitte-Minister

• Lord Macdonald &

Chris Leslie

e-Government

e.gov

Electronic Government Services for the 21st Century

Performance and Innovation Unit

http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2000/delivery/e-gov.pdf

UK Online: Our Goals

• People: universal access by 2005

• Business: 1 million smes e-trading by 2002

• Government: all services online by 2005

To make the UK the best place in the world for e-commerce

e-Government strategy

• To make the UK one of the world’s leading knowledge economies

• All government services to be offered online by 2005

• Everyone who wants it to have internet access by 2005

UK Online Action Plan

14. Drive forward citizen participation in democracy as part of UK online

– online voter registration and online postal vote application – participation by devolved administrations and local

authorities

– local citizen-to-citizen dialogue

Is There a Problem?

A strong representative democracy?– General election turnout (2001 - 59% lowest since

1918)– Confidence in democratic institutions

• Generally speaking, do you tend to believe politicians when they make election pledges or do you tend to disbelieve them? 78% disbelieve (BBC Online).

– Channels of influence (membership of UK political parties halved since 1980)

• The democratic deficit.

How Can New Technologies Help?

• Facilitate - e.g. make it easier for people to take part in elections.

• Broaden - provide new channels to include people that may have been excluded in the past.

• Deepen - strengthen the connections between citizens and government, parliament and each other.

The Aim of the Policy

To strengthen representative democracy via the use of the internet and other communication technologies.

UK Political Context

It is time to put e-democracy on the information agenda and begin to explore the role new technologies may play in revitalising democracy. Graham Stringer MP, Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, 3rd Global Forum, Naples, 15 March 2001

Change comes from the bottom up as much as the top down. For the last 50 years, governments have failed to respect this basic truth.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2001

Concept of E-democracy

Track 1 – Public ParticipationThe use of Internet and other communication technologies to give citizens opportunities to participate in the democratic process between elections.

Track 2 – Efficient VotingThe use of Internet and other communication technologies to simplify participation in elections to national, local and European parliaments assemblies and other elections under statutory control.

Challenges

For ultimate success on e-democracy

• Inclusive access to Internet and other communication channels

• High requirements of security and protection of privacy - but not gold plated

• Responsive government • Effective public deliberation and moderation• Electronic provision of electronically stored official

information• e-Democracy Charter

Challenges: Getting People Online

The goal is to achieve universal internet access by 2005.

access to the internet in the community through a network of 6,000 UK online centres by 2002

initiatives targeted at the poorest communities Wired up communities and Computers within reach

access is only one part of it - government is also addressing need to provide people with the skills, trust and motivation to use the internet

E-democracy Strands

• Public Participation consists of two strands:– Government to Citizen (e.g. consultation)

• includes local and regional government

– Parliament to Citizen, Citizen to Citizen and Civil Society

• to influence the policy making process

E-democracy Strands

• Efficient Voting. A single strand but covers many areas: e.g.– e-voting– online registration– other statutory elections e.g. Trades

Unions, private companies.

EML Schema

• Election Markup Language• Vendors offer election services world-wide

but with different– levels of automation– platforms and – architectures

• EML will provide a structured interchange of data between hardware, software and service vendors

EML Schema

• EML development will cover:– voter registration– citizen/membership authentication– absentee ballots – election timetabling – ballot delivery and tabulation– result reporting etc.

Early Experiments

• Citizen Space on UK Online• Hansard Society online parliamentary enquiry• Bristol and Croydon online referenda

Early Experiments

• All Party Domestic Violence Group - online parliamentary inquiry into domestic violence.www.hansardsociety.org.uk

• Croydon and Bristol City Councils’ online referenda - 9600 internet votes cast. – Bristol: 40% turnout - 3% online– Croydon: 35% turnout - 3.5% online

Summary

• e-Democracy is one means of helping to address the democratic deficit

• The aim of the policy should be to strengthen representative democracy

• New technologies can facilitate, broaden and deepen democratic participation

• e-Democracy brings with it challenges which must be met

E-democracy Team - OeE

Peter Livesey

peter.livesey@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk

+44 (0)207 276 3203

Karin Edin

karin.edin@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk

+44 (0)207 276 3211