Modernising Participatory Democracy in the Commonwealth Project

Page last updated: June 1, 2005

Project Officer: Savita Bailur

Modernising Participatory Democracy in the Commonwealth was a two-stage project which aimed to analyse the interaction between participative democracy and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the Commonwealth.

Stage 1 was a 3-month ( May-August 2003 ) preparatory study, comprising a literature review and interviews with key figures from Commonwealth civil society, Commonwealth parliamentary organisations, and government organisations, including the Commonwealth Secretariat, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and Commonwealth Local Government Forum, as well as electoral commissions in the Commonwealth. A half-day workshop inviting representatives from these organisations was conducted after the preliminary literature review and survey was completed. A CPSU report, Modernising participative democracy through ICTs in the Commonwealth, was put up on the website in August 2003.


Stage 2 involved fieldwork in selected Commonwealth countries, and included a possible e-democracy pilot project in a Commonwealth country (for example, the establishment of electronic voting machines), to be carried out in conjunction with a local government authority, hardware and software provider and relevant civil society groups.

1. Briefly, the project aimed to look at the following areas:

• 1.1. The issue of the digital divide in the Commonwealth – clearly ICTs in participative democracy should be used to enhance traditional methods of government-citizen interaction, not to displace them.
• 1.2. The role of Commonwealth governments and parliaments in using ICTs to:
  • 1.2.1. Communicate internally
  • 1.2.2. Communicate with their citizens or voters (e.g. the use of mobile phones to gather support by the Kenyan opposition during the 2002 Kenyan national elections).
  • 1.2.3. Communicate with other Commonwealth governments and the international community
• 1.3. Issues of social inclusion/exclusion (gender; youth)
• 1.4. Using technology in building local democracy
• 1.5. Using ICTs in election administration and observation
  The implementation of technology in election administration does not simply involve 'electronic voting'. Technology may be used for compiling the voter register (e.g. in the recent Nigerian elections in April 2003), as well as for counting and analysis.
• 1.6. The role of the media/new media in deepening democracy

2. Conclusion and Recommendations

Themes from this project were taken up and developed in the CPSU project on Commonwealth Local Democracy.