Direct Democracy: Is it time for the UK to change our voting system?

This month, we are fortunate to have Neil Petrie lead the discussion on the topic of Direct Democracy.

Direct Democracy has been used in Switzerland since the federation was established in 1848. It literally allows citizens to influence policies that directly involve their communities.

Important government legislation can be outsourced to the wider electorate, using a series of referendums. This ultimately means that voters can decide on which acts are approved and then passed by Parliament.

To get some idea of how successful DD is, the Swiss government has a 65% approval rating. The average is less than 30%.

Neil Petrie represents a group called Direct Democracy, details at www.ddrightnow.com. Direct Democracy is advocating electoral change in the UK based on the principles of the aforementioned Swiss system.

Alongside this, Direct Democracy also supports a digital Blockchain system. Each individual voter is issued with a unique identification number (akin to Bitcoin for politics), and then every vote that is added to the block can not be neither manipulated nor deleted. There are many people now saying that the traditional paper ballots are easily rigged. Blockchain voting is said to be successful in preventing fraud at this level.

Direct Democracy has several members who have lived in Switzerland for several years themselves, and therefore, they have become advocates of political change in the UK, hoping to promote a similar system.

The group is becoming successful as a political force and has even fielded several candidates at the local elections in May, with growing enthusiasm.

So join us for a fact filled and free event (it will only cost the price of a drink at the bar downstairs). We are a friendly bunch and value everyone's opinion. All's we ask is that you also respect everyone else's and refrain from any abusive language.

Look forward to debating/discussing this with everyone.