Public participation and direct democracy
Giving citizens a say outside of elections.
If we take the last two most mediatised examples of public participation and direct democracy - the 2021 water act referendum and the cancelled referendum on the Krško 2 nuclear power plant - we can clearly see how the public should have a say beyond just elections but also how referenda will often not represent a vote on a given topic, but rather a judgement on the government.
Public participation and direct democracy can be a powerful tool in the right hands and with an objective debate.
Volt Slovenia proposes:
Municipal level
Make participatory budgets introduced in 2018 mandatory on municipal level to give citizens more of a say and create transparency on how parts of the municipal budgets are being spent.
Introduce citizen neighbourhood councils in suburbs who work with elected representatives on local policies.
Citizen assemblies and referenda
Introduce citizen assemblies on specific topics similar to the french assembly on climate or the Irish assemblies on constitutional reforms with randomly selected citizens representing the population and working together with experts to formulate demands or recommendations for the government.
Introduce the possibility of citizen initiatives on local and national level similar to European citizen initiatives - meaning that if a topic is accepted and the required amount of signatures from citizens are collected in a designated period of time, it will be put up for discussion on the respective governmental level.
Introduce a national platform similar to vTaiwan that allows open consultation between citizens and governments and helps in building rational consensus on national topics.
(Version 2025-02)