In the run up to the national election in Iceland one of the comments about the Pirate Party was that they were keeping their electoral promises before the elections had taken place. One of the reasons for this was the development of the Online Parliament Viewer or Alþingisrýnirinn, which is in line with the Pirate’s call for increased transparency

The Online Parliament Viewer sources data from publicly available records and presents them in a way that is easy to understand. It shows how MPs have voted on a single bill or on the top 100 most controversial issues in the last term and it also highlights instances where representatives have voted against their own party line. Another feature that voters might like to know is how often their member of parliament turned up to represent them; for that purpose there is an attendance record. Voters can see at a glance how often their representatives have been representing them.

The software is a gift from the Icelandic Pirate Party to the Icelandic nation. It is open source software and as such is available to all interested organisations to take and adapt to their own system and the code can be found on github. The principle developer is Bjarni Rúnar Einarsson. The description and documentation is in Icelandic but modern translation software does a reasonable job and there are plenty of Pirates in Iceland who would help you adapt it.

Featured image:  PPIS CC BY-SA

About Andrew Reitemeyer

I joined the Pirate Party of Lower Saxony in Germany in April 2012, once I found out that non citizens were welcome to join and become active members of the Party.
I joined the Pirate Times soon after it was started as a proof reader and am now an editor and author. Since then I have returned to my native New Zealand and joined the Pirate Party of New Zealand.
Politically I come from the libertarian left and have, up to now, not regarded any political party as having a solution for the democratic deficit that envelops the world. With the advent of the Pirate Party, which truly embraces grass roots democracy, I have found a political home. The Pirate Times is a way I can contribute to furthering the Pirate Movement around the world.
Skype: frithogar

 

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In the run up to the national election in Iceland one of the comments about the Pirate Party was that they were keeping their electoral promises before the elections had…