Assembly to launch enhanced E-democracy services
The National Assembly for Wales will launch its enhanced e-democracy services today (Tuesday April 15th) at 12.00 in the Senedd.
Services, including a new e-petitioning system, senedd.tv, an improved webcasting service, e-forums and a “quick vote” facility for online consultations for committee inquiries such as the current inquiry into Presumed Consent for Organ Donation will be launched by Peter Black AM, Commissioner for the Assembly and the Citizen.
The e-petition system is being launched following a successful start for the petitioning system, which was launched in May 2007 with the intention of encouraging further dialogue between the Assembly and Welsh citizens.
There will be a demonstration of the new e-petitions service with information on how to submit an e-petition and how to sign an e-petition along with a demonstration of the senedd.tv webcasting service and the e-forums and quick vote facilities.
Online voting for “Welsh Idol”, the Assembly’s Quest to find the nation’s favourite person will also be launched. During February, suggestions for an Idol were made by visitors to the Senedd and a shortlist of the most popular ten names (including Ray Gravell, Katherine Jenkins, James Hook, Hywel Dda and Joe Calzaghe) was announced on St David’s Day. Voting will continue until August when the Welsh Idol will be announced during the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff.
Peter Black AM said: The Assembly is committed to using the most modern and inclusive methods available to help people understand, engage and participate in Welsh democracy. E-democracy has a number of benefits: the potential to engage with people who may not normally take an interest in the Assembly; services such as e-petitioning have the ability to reach many more people than a traditional paper petition and makes the submission of petitions far simpler and senedd.tv makes watching the assembly’s proceedings much more accessible to people, not just in Wales but all over the World. To engage fully with Welsh citizens we need and want to work in partnership with the ‘e’ community.”