An e-proposal or an e-petition is a short question, request for action or information from a citizen to the municipality, county council or region. The proposal is posted on the website and other citizens can support the proposal by signing the proposal.
The forms for e-proposals can look different, but the basic structure is based on the proposer writing his proposal on a public web page so that the proposal can be read by anyone connected to the Internet. If I like the proposal, I can give my support by “signing” the proposal. The proposal can then be taken up and discussed in a political assembly.
E-proposals have an outside-in perspective, here the proposer is free to submit any proposal. It is possible to make variants with e.g. themes or question areas, but then you deviate from the basic idea of the free proposal.
An e-proposal that receives many signatures expresses what several citizens/residents see as important and that the issue is worth looking into and discussing in the appropriate political assembly. It is important to be clear that e-proposals are not a departure from representative democracy but should be seen as an opportunity for citizens/residents to put forward their ideas for development to the elected officials.
The idea is that a person can make a proposal, gather support from other citizens. This gives all citizens the opportunity to also get involved between elections. E-petitions provide citizens with a simple and easy-to-understand method to get involved in local community development and thus gain an understanding of the democratic processes.
It may seem natural that only the municipality’s citizens/residents are allowed to submit proposals. However, the question requires both thought and discussion.
In Haparanda municipality, they decided that anyone, regardless of where they are in the world, is welcome to submit an e-proposal to Haparanda municipality. In Haparanda they say that “it’s great if someone who has visited our municipality wants to make a suggestion on how we can improve”.
Another question to decide is whether there should be any age limit, here there are all variants from no age limit at all to a lower limit, e.g. 16 or 18 years. The question of any age limit is important and needs to be discussed early in the work.
• Who can submit e-proposals?
• Should we have an age limit, if so which one?
Regardless of which decision(s) are made on the questions, it is important that the decisions can be justified and that they are communicated when the e-proposal is launched.
A web solution for handling and making visible petitions/proposals received and the possibility to somehow “sign” or give your support for the proposals you think are good.
From 5-10 hours per month for the person handling incoming e-proposals, in the initial phase more time is required.
An e-petition system is a simple and direct way to offer citizens a gateway to the heart of the democratic process where they can raise issues that matter to them rather than waiting for elected officials or formal consultations to ask them in advance established issues.
The most important questions to ask yourself are:
• Are we as elected officials and civil servants open to receiving suggestions from our citizens/residents?
• Are we as a municipality, county council, region open to being influenced by our citizens/residents through e-suggestions.
If we open up the possibility of submitting e-suggestions, there must be a clear recipient who is prepared to take up the submitted proposals for discussion and reply/feedback to the proposer.
If we answer no to these questions:
The most important questions to ask yourself are:
• Are we as elected officials and civil servants open to receiving suggestions from our citizens/residents?
• Are we as a municipality, county council, region open to being influenced by our citizens/residents through e-suggestions.
Advantages of e-petitions: