In Latvia, participatory democracy at work with the online platform Manabalss

From our correspondent,

NGOs or individuals arrive with proposed laws. The team of lawyers who work for Manabalss website (“My voice, my vote”) voluntarily undertakes to study the proposal, sometimes to better draft it from a legal point of view. Then, it is published on the site. The media relay them frequently. If you join, you can sign by connecting via your online bank. If the initiative obtains 10,000 votes, it must be studied by Parliament. 10,000 votes may not seem like much, but it’s half a percent of the Latvian population.

Fight against corruption

To date, 60 laws or amendments have been adopted in this way. And changes in the Constitution. In Latvia, MPs elect the president. A new presidential election will take place in two days and for the second time, the vote of the deputies will no longer be secret. And that is thanks to Manabalss.

This website was born in 2011. That year, Latvia went through a difficult period. It suffered violently from the repercussions of the global financial crisis. The country is also mired in serious corruption cases. Parliament is dissolved, as MPs refuse to waive the parliamentary immunity of a local oligarch suspected of money laundering. Two young people then launched Manabalss, which was initially intended as a simple online petition site. One of the first petitions aims to bring MPs closer to the people, it is called “Let’s open Parliament”. This is how the law was born that allows Manabalss to operate today.

Concrete steps forward for Latvian democracy

According to Manabalss calculations, a quarter of Latvia has already voted once, because locals know it has a real impact. The use of the site is free, but by voting, it is possible to make a micro-donation to make it work. Manabalss thus collects around 70,000 euros per year, and that is another criterion of success.

The initiatives have also diversified considerably. Recently, Parliament considered the free distribution of sanitary protection for girls in schools, the banning of the fur industry. The Latvians also want to act locally. Although the law does not yet authorize it, Manabalss has published municipal initiatives to show that there is interest from the population.

►The Institute for Innovation in Politics presented its awards, at the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, on May 11, 2023