Epetitions

Reinventing Direct Democracy

History: Athenian democracy

Physically by show of hands (kheirotonia)

History: Roman Empire

● Divided into tribes

● Citizens voted in their tribes

● Each tribe had a vote

Modern Democracy (1/2)

Parliamentary System: People vote for

parties. The party (or a coalition of parties) with

the greatest representation in the parliament

(legislature) forms the government, its leader

becoming prime minister.

Modern Democracy (2/2)

Presidential System:People vote for a head of

state that leads the executive branch.

Anothering voting is done for the parliament

that leads the legislative branch

Problems of Modern Democracy (1/2)

● How does government decides what’s

important for the people?

● Lack of accountability

● Lack of transparency

Problems of Modern Democracy (2/2)

● Modern democracy was formed because of increased

population

● People trust every 4 or 5 years their vote to their

representatives

● The representatives don’t always act in the best interest

of people

o Corruption

o Popularism

o Higher interests: For example Troika in Cyprus

Solution: Reinventing Direct Democracy

● Epetition platform: Citizens should be able to

decide what is important

● Transparency everywhere: Citizens should

have access to everything

● Direct communication: Easy mechanism for

citizens to communicate their

representatives

What have we done so far

● Create online platform based on we the

people by Obama

● Research online platforms: we the people

(USA), European citizens' initiative (EU) and

Epetitions (UK).

● First draft of policy paper

Pending

● Test platform’s functionality on epetitions

● Create mechanism on platform for direct

communication with representatives (similar

to WriteToThem)

● Create mechanism on platform for more

transparency: Citizens should know what

their representatives are doing

Remarks

• Draft presentation

• Please contact me at zampas@gmail.com if

you are interested in this project