In our final blog exploring options Legislative Council Reform, we're looking at the use of citizen's assemblies and sortition.
TL;DR:
A citizen’s assembly would see a randomly selected legislative Council made up of members of the electoral register.
It is likely that the role of the Legislative Council would change, as often Citizen’s Assemblies are set up to perform a specific, rather than, constant role.
A possible way that this could be implemented would be through the random appointment of Legislative Councillors for a 1 - 2 year term, candidates would be drawn from 18+ plus residents on the electoral register, with exemptions given.
Supporters of Citizen’s Assemblies argue that it would increase accountability, encourage participation in democracy, create a better-educated public and allow for greater diversity to be represented.
Opponents suggest that it would cost significantly more, that it is unproven, that is may end up as a talking shop, that it would be difficult to encourage, attract and retain members and that it may block the legislative process.
Whilst highly unlikely and appearing ludicrous at first, citizens assemblies and mini-publics have been successfully used for dealing with matters ranging from constitutional reform to local planning, in countries such as Ireland, Iceland, Belgium and the UK and versions of this form of direct democracy have a history which dates back thousands of years. Forms of these already exist through Jury Service and the basic principle is the same.
A randomly selected group is provided with information on a given topic in order to make an informed judgment, this can include briefings, discussions, and engagements with elected politicians and organisations. Whilst seeming strange at first to hand scrutiny over to random people with no background or potential interest in politics, this lack of legal or political knowledge is not uncommon even in our current chamber, with our current crop of MLCs coming from a variety of backgrounds. Lisvane’s option agrees with this review stating that what is required over legal eagles is ‘the view of the intelligent, experienced layperson’ and that ‘New MLCs could be given appropriate training’.
Citizen's Assemblies are often given the power to propose change rather than enact or scrutinise it.
In recent years Citizens Assemblies have generally been used for a specific purpose, such as electoral reform in Ireland or reducing carbon emissions in a London Council, and are often given the power to propose change rather than enact or scrutinise it. Often, these assemblies dissolve after they have served their purpose and the process of selection begins again, this ‘term limit’ of sorts means that membership is constantly changing.
Proponents of Citizens Assemblies cite their direct democratic accountability as a key benefit. Their reliance on a (semi) random selection process, limits possible manipulation and helps to ensure citizen representation outside of the traditional political class. However, as electoral registration is a requirement, the demographics of an assembly panel if randomly selected may be skewed.
Others argue that citizen panels can create better policy outcomes through longer and more informed deliberation and can lead to greater engagement in the long term, something sorely needed in Manx politics.
Opponents argue that a chamber of this type would not be suitable to provide legislative scrutiny, noting as we have, that generally these chambers are not empowered to enact changes and there is no example of a modern parliament making use of this system in this way. Whilst, its exact form and function would be decided by the body which gives it power it is likely that it would have a number of differences in function to currently LegCo. Issues around the costs of staffing and supporting Citizen Councillors and challenges around selecting and enforcing the attendance of candidates are also raised, with a comparison often made to jury duty. Certainly, it is unreasonable to expect a person to give up 5 years of their life to serve as a Tynwald member, it should be noted that some second chambers offer a more part-time affair.
Whilst citizen assemblies offer an opportunity for increased democratic engagement and solve some of the issues raised by critics of the current Legislative Council, it is unlikely that they would be adopted as the new method of appointment for the Isle of Man’s second chamber. The system would be fairly unique globally and certainly excite political scientists, however there are a number of unknowns when compared to tried and tested solutions.
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