citizen – mp communication tools: case of latvia

Sabiedriskās politikas centrs

Citizen – MP communication tools: case of Latvia(Presentation by Iveta Kazoka, Centre for Public Policy PROVIDUS for Personal Democracy Forum, Feb 1-2, 2013, Warsaw)

Gudrasgalvas.lv (communication platform)

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Musuvalsts.lv (policy idea crowdsourcing platform)

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Manabalss.lv(e-petit ion platform)

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Deputatiuzdelnas.lv (parl iamentary monitoring website)

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But now let us focus on communication!

In Latvia direct voter communication with polit icians happens either through social networks

(especially twitter) or gudrasgalvas.lv .. .

For more information on Latvian e-init iatives in English see:

http://democracyoneday.wordpress.com/

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How we made gudrasgalvas.lv

what i t is? (responses to questions posted by Andrew

Mandelbaum)

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Why do cit izens use your tool?

1. We launched gudrasgalvas.lv in 2010 prior to parliamentary elections – at that time it functioned as a communication platform with candidates;

2. We included several gamification elements both for voters (there was a competition) and candidates (activity badges for candidates, political party popularity competition);

3. The most convenient place on Latvian web to get an answer from majority of MP’s;

4. There is some additional interesting content there (blogs, video interviews, media monitoring, twitter communication).

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How do you get MPs to be involved?

1. It was hard ... now over a half of MP’s and ministers use this site, but it took a while;

2. Elections in 2010, and extraordinary elections in 2011 helped a lot motivationwise;

3. There are several features in the platform meant to attract MP’s interest because of their convenience (media monitoring; calendar; surveys)

4. Every week we try to organize a video-interview with a MP, that also increases their motivation to participate

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What types of impact such a site can have?

Not easy to measure: it is a very popular site prior to elections, and not very much visited in between campaigns;

You can get answers to you responses from a bit over a half of all MP’s and ministers (including prime minister), and then do whatever you want with them. For example, compare MPs. http://ivetakazoka.blogspot.com/2012/04/kas-un-kadel-irnav-parakstijusi-labas.html

The most important impact and benefit of such sites is quite intangible: in case of Latvia it habituates politicians to the necessity to communicate directly with the voters.

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What are some of the factors beyond the website that make

the project successful? Timing (coming elections definitely help!); Format (it might have been more/less successful if

not for the youthful, game-like form of the platform which is unusual for MP’s);

Ability to invest energy in contacting MP’s and trying to retain their interest in visiting this website and responding to questions;

Ability to invest energy in making citizens aware of the website and to post questions.

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Further information on gudrasgalvas.lv and

some annotated screenshots is available

here!

http://democracyoneday.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/gudras-galvas-init iat ive/

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