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Hearing the calls for Political Reform

Earlier today, Nick Clegg appear outside Liberal Democrat headquarters to thank a crowd of hundreds of protesters for their petition calling for electoral reform and urged them to continue with their campaign.

The protesters gathered in Smith Square where the Lib Dem leader was holding power-sharing talks with members of his party.

Mr Clegg said it was "absolutely wonderful" they were taking their argument for reform to the streets and added that he genuinely believed it was now in the national interest to usher in "new politics".

For the first time in a long time it feels like the politicians are listening to us.

Thousands of protesters descended on the Liberal Democrats today with a simple message - "fair votes now."

Nick Clegg came out to speak.  He now holds the balance of power - and the fate of fair votes in his hands.

(via TakeBackParliament)

For more on the campaign, and to sign the petition - already 32,000 strong - see:

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The Power of the Pen

Omar Ahmad - an internet infrastructure maven and a member of the City Council for San Carlos, California - explains how to engage with politicians though handwritten letters. Ahmad shows why old-fashioned correspondence are more effective than email, phone or even writing a cheque -- and shares the four simple steps to writing a letter that works.

President Obama on the power of letters in keeping him in touch with the mood of the country. Each day he reads ten letters from the public in order to stay in tune with America's issues and concerns.

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Advising 1 million people on their political identity

EuProfiler.eu won this years World eDemocracy Forum Award. It's an online tool that was used by 2,5 million citizens during the last European elections. Over 1 million people completed the procedures and received advice on the political party most similar to their ideals. It's an impartial tool that allowed citizens to compare their opinions with those of over 300 European political parties before voting in June's European Parliament elections. It allowed citizens to easily find the political party matching their political identity.

It explains itself as a Voting Advice Application and:

an impartial tool designed to inform potential voters and other interested users about the political landscape in Europe ahead of the European Parliament elections in June 2009. Amongst others, it provides answers to the following questions: Which parties are running? Where do they stand on the important issues? Where do I stand in relation to the parties? All of these questions and more are answered in the few minutes it takes to fill out a questionnaire.

Professors Alexandre Trechsel and Fabian Breuer of the European Institute of Florence explained their motivations for the project at the recent e-Democracy awards workshop.

 

(via eDemocracy-forum)

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