Mathematicians, statisticians and computer scientists from the Polytechnic University of Madrid have developed a system that will improve citizen participation from the next municipal elections in 2011. Specifically, the objective is to allow the use of new technologies, and more specifically the Internet, so that politicians can know in real time the opinions of citizens and take them into account when making decisions. The most direct and immediate application will be the so-called participatory budgets , with which it is intended that the voters decide the allocation of at least 10% of the budget of their municipality.
We are trying “to transform the idea of a representative democracy , where citizens’ preferences are considered only in elections, towards participatory democracy , based on participation and direct discussion,” explain the researchers, members of the Decision Analysis Research Group. and Statistics. His initiative falls within what is known as e-democracy or electronic democracy, a term coined within the Minnesota civic movements in 1994.
