Future researcher proposes Internet voting for all elections
Mika Mannermaa publishes report for Parliamentary committee
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Future researcher, Dr. Mika Mannermaa proposes that Internet voting should be introduced in all elections in Finland within ten years - by the centenary of Finnish independence in 2017.
Mannermaa feels that democracy and the civic society can also be developed through citizens’ initiatives, future panels, virtual referendums, and voting that continues throughout the Parliamentary terms. In addition, he suggests establishing a national virtual electoral district.
The proposals are included in a report written by Mannermaa called "Democracy in the Upheavals of the Future", which was published on Wednesday. The report was commissioned by the Parliament’s Future Committee.
Mannermaa expects that representative democracy will remain in Finland for a long time. He also says that the ageing of the population will be reflected in the composition of the Parliament and the content of its decisions. Older people will vote and wield influence through Parliament, while younger citizens will seek to influence public affairs in other ways, through information technology.
It could even lead to a situation in which young people operating in virtual networks no longer care about decisions made by representative bodies.
Mannermaa feels that the introduction of Internet voting has been "unnecessarily slowed down". He proposes that Internet voting should be made possible in all elections to allow "mobile" participation in elections from different parts of the world.
Electronic voting is to be introduced in the municipal elections of 2008, but only in a few municipalities, and it will take place in voting booths, and not on the Internet.
The idea of a virtual electoral district means that voters and candidates could choose to join a virtual electoral district, instead of the present geographical districts. The virtual district would cover the whole country, and it would have 20 seats in Parliament. The remaining 180 would be chosen from regional districts.
Mannermaa does not feel that this would lead to an unhealthy system of two-tier politicians - regional and national.
An alternate suggestion was made at the press conference announcing the publication of Mannermaa’s proposals - electoral districts formed by age groups - those aged 18 to 24, 25 to 34, and so on. The candidates’ ages could differ from those in the district.
Future panels would be civic debates open to all.
The idea of a citizens’ initiative would be that Parliament would be obliged to debate an initiative getting the support of 40,000 citizens, for instance.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 11.1.2007 - TODAY |
 Future researcher proposes Internet voting for all elections
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