Unlock Democracy welcomes ballot experiment in Islington
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The Electoral Reform Society is a voluntary organisation that campaigns for a better democracy, particularly through changes to our electoral system.
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Thursday, 28, Jun 2007 12:00
Unlock Democracy has hailed Islington council's decision to hold a ballot about changing its system of car parking charges to incentivise use of more environmentally friendly cars as a welcome experiment in participatory democracy.
In the event 56% of those voting supported the new scheme, on a 29% turnout.
Peter Facey, Director of Unlock Democracy - which is based in Islington - commented:
"This was a welcome experiment in participatory democracy. There is always a fear that such ballots will become hijacked by attempts to turn it into a vote of confidence about the running of the local authority itself, so the fact that the vote endorsed the executive's position will hopefully encourage other councils to try similar experiments. We would like to see councils going further, allowing citizens themselves to trigger such ballots under certain circumstances.
"This was a two-sided issue and many of the criticisms being raised about the proposed new parking scheme were perfectly valid, but we regret Islington Labour Party's decision to organise a boycott of the ballot. Labour has a good record of encouraging precisely these kinds of ballots around the rest of the country. At a time when their new party leader Gordon Brown is talking about a new era of participative democracy it is unfortunate, to say the least, to see MPs posing in photo stunts ripping up ballot papers. At a time when turnout in elections is at an historic low level, it is irresponsible for politicians to call for people to extricate themselves from the political process."
ENDS
Notes:
Unlock Democracy (http://www.unlockdemocracy.org.uk/) is the joint campaign of Charter 88 and the New Politics Network promoting democratic renewal and active engagement in the political process.