News from the OpeningParliament.org community:
In India, national elections closed on May 16, with Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party anticipated to win more than the 272 seats required for a parliamentary majority. In advance of the election, Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) developed report cards for members of the Lok Sabha. The report cards provide citizens with information gathered through the Right To Information Act and other government websites and assess MP performance on factors like attendance and efforts to introduce new development within their districts. See here for more information on SNS’ methodology.
Last month, PRS Legislative Research provided a historical comparison of the number of bills passed to ordinances declared during each Lok Sabha since 1952.
In Chile, delegates from 27 countries gathered in Santiago on April 29-30 for the first Poplus Conference, organized by mySociety and Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente. Participants shared goals for the future of the Poplus network, a nascent project with the goal to create and share open source code that helps civic organizations around the world.
In the European Union, voting for European Parliamentary elections will take place May 22-25. Election results will be available in open data format, allowing interested users to retrieve raw data, use filters to present the information in custom ways, and publish it on their own online platforms.
In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Kohovolit.eu launched an election calculator for the European Parliament that allows users to browse voting data of European MPs from 2009 to 2014. The calculator allows users to curate the data by selecting issues important to them and reviewing how closely the voting records of different EMPs match their views.
In Georgia, JumpStart Georgia recently analyzed the national government’s difficulty with implementation of the Open Government Partnership, citing the current government’s dubious commitment to the process and its failure to encourage relevant public agencies to take a more active role in Georgia’s OGP commitments.
In Paraguay, a draft law on access to public information that passed Paraguay’s Senate last December was rejected on April 22 by the House Committee on Freedom of the Press and Communications. The decision marked a setback for the Group on Access to Public Information (GIAI)’s effort to pass an ATI bill in Paraguay. On April 25, Semillas para la Democracia and other CSOs met with members of the Chamber of Deputies to continue discussions on the bill, which formally resumed on May 13.
In Serbia, Otvoreni Parlament released a report in March titled “Women in parliament - a quota or real impact?” The research focuses on aspects of gender inequality that persist despite the growing number of female MPs in the national assembly.
In Mexico, Fundar presented the second version of its Index of Right to Access Information in Mexico (IDAIM). The IDAIM measures the quality of transparency laws in Mexico by state relative to the best national and international practices regarding policy design, institutional design, and procedure for access to public information.
in Ukraine, Transparency International Ukraine released a brief on the latest developments in its ongoing campaign against corruption. The brief reviews the the status of political reforms in the Verkhovna Rada, including the national anti-corruption strategy for 2014-2017. In late April, Ukraine’s cabinet announced the creation of a new platform – the Reform Support Center – which will enable civil society experts to consult with the government about ongoing reforms.
In Spain, Access Info launched the Pledge Campaign, a project that seeks pledges from MEPs and candidates for the European Parliament’s upcoming elections to improve the transparency of lobbying activities in the EU. The campaign combines the efforts of organizations from 10 or more EU Member States to raise awareness on the effects of lobbying in the EU.
Elsewhere, Qué hacen los diputados will launch a new website on May 26 during an event in Madrid. More on the launch event and website can be found here.
Other related news:
In the United States, President Obama recently signed the country’s first open data law. The DATA Act will require federal agencies to publish spending information online in machine readable formats.
In Germany, Collaboratory.de released a fact sheet on open government issues in the German Bundestag. The fact sheet provides insight into the working methods of the Petitions Committee of the Bundestag, the state of the institution’s adhocracy, and further ideas about cooperation and transparency that might be implemented.
In Venezuela, where a news blackout on information surrounding protests continues, Transparencia Venezuela developed some guidelines that suggest ways to stay informed and responsibly report information on social media. Transparencia also issued a report summarizing the National Assembly’s activity during the first quarter of 2014.
Elsewhere, Chilean organization Poderopedia launched a new chapter in Venezuela on World Press Freedom Day. The new branch will expand Poderopedia’s mission to use public information and investigative reporting to profile major political and financial actors and expose conflicts of interest. In June, Poderopedia anticipates opening an additional branch in Colombia.
Also in the EU, a new collaborative website, Score your MEP’s!, allows voters to examine how MEPs voted on climate change, fracking, GM crops, arms trade, and LGBT issues, and assigns a score from 0 to 100 to each MEP based on support or opposition to these issues. Voter’s may also use the voting advice application euandi to determine which European party most closely represents their views based on 28 policy issues.
Resources:
In an Inter-American Development Bank paper, Álvaro Ramírez-Alujas and Nicolás Dassen review the Open Government Partnership commitments of 14 Latin American countries, discuss certain paradoxes involved in commitment making, and provide recommendations for improving the OGP process.
The Guardian hosted an expert panel with live Q&A about the potential for technology to accelerate progress towards the millenium development goals. The panel featured Andrew Mandelbaum of SimSim-Civic Participation. Check out the discussion hashtag here.
The European Center for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD) – in conjunction with the Parliamentary Institute in Macedonia – recently published a report on codes of conduct in European parliaments. The report is based on a survey the organizations undertook to gather information on codes of conduct and to consider their scope and implementation.
Events:
May 21-23: The Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government 2014 will take place at the Danube University-Krems in Austria.
May 30-31: Transparency Camp, the Sunlight Foundation’s annual “unconference,” will take place in Arlington, Virginia.
June 5-6: The Personal Democracy Forum will be held in New York City. This year’s Forum is themed “Save the Internet | The Internet Saves” and will include a breakout session on “Governance Design for the Future,” among many others.
June 10-12: The first Legislative Communication Conference will be held in Montreal, Canada. Unlike most legislative conferences, which remain focused on departmental or geographic boundaries, this conference aims to provide multiple viewpoints that offer a global perspective.
June 12-13: The 14th European Conference on eGovernment will be held at Spiru Haret University in Brasov, Romania.
June 12-13: The European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD) will hold a seminar in Rome entitled “From e-Parliament to smart-Parliament: How to improve citizen’s participation using web technologies and social media? And how can parliamentary rules of procedure support transparency and participation?”
