May 1st Elections and eDemocracy

According to a study by the IPPR (Institute for Public Policy Research), voter turnout at local elections has fallen by a tenth since the 1980s. With little more than a third of registered electors actually voting in most local elections, the turnout tends to be lowest in poor inner-city areas where there is a high proportion of young people.

As this letter shows (and yes, it is a genuine example of primary school children being engaged in local politics), the starting point to engage young people needs to be a positive, assertive view that they do want to be involved in the democratic process and want to believe their participation can make a difference. So, is the answer simply to encourage more elected politicians to embrace eDemocracy with their own websites, blogs, and pages on social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube?

Yes...and no. Like embarrassing parents playing air guitar, too many politicians leap on YouTube or start blogging thinking it will help them look more trendy and in touch with 'youth' culture. In several cases, these ad-hoc attempts to embrace new ways of communicating have resulted in a deluge of less-than-complimentary feedback and even malicious defacing of sites.

At a recent Policy Forum and Planning session held by Bromley Council I enjoyed a presentation from a representative of ICELE (International Centre for Excellence in Local eDemocracy), which had many excellent examples of how both local and central Government, as well as individual elected politicians, are using technology effectively. One clear lesson from the examples you will see at ICELE is the commitment to empower citizens in the community to report problems and expect action to be taken.  Love Lewisham is an excellent example that has resulted in satisfaction with street cleaning being 11 points higher than the average for London. I encourage you to take a look at the ICELE site for inspiration on how eDemocracy is happening very successfully and for initiatives that you can emulate.

I also hope that ‘Coombe Hill Juniors’ got an answer to their question about what the government does with the tax...so that their early interest in democracy is rewarded.

Posted by Ian