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Citizen Engagement

Iceland amends constitution via Facebook

By Adrienne Valdez | 24 June 2011

The Parliamentary Republic of Iceland is crowdsourcing the amendment of its constitution through media sites like Facebook.

In April of this year, the constitution council has posted draft clauses that are open for discussion for the country’s citizens on Facebook.

According to Thorvaldur Gylfason, member of Iceland’s constitutional council, this is the first time a constitution is being drafted basically on the Internet.

The government leaders have not only taken to Facebook to garner opinions about their policies but have also used Twitter and YouTube. So far, there have been countless nods of approval from people from all over the world, who are applauding such democratic actions.

The parliamentary meetings have also been open to the public and streamed live on the country’s official website and Facebook, where two-thirds of its population are users of the popular social media, with the official government page having over 2,500 likes thus far.

“The public have added much to our debate. Their comments have been quite helpful and they have had a positive effect on the outcome,” Gylfason added.

The council aims for the draft bill to be ready at the end of July so may be put to a referendum without any changes imposed by parliament, so it will be a document that is truly “by the people” and “for the people.”

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