Electronic People's Initiative (RS0055)

Brief description of the Commitment

The commitment implies the establishment of an electronic people's initiative through the creation of a service on the eGovernment Portal https://euprava.gov.rs, which will enable citizens to exercise their right to people's initiative in electronic form.

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address? The right of citizens to participate in decision-making processes, including the right to propose laws, is guaranteed under the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia ("Official Gazette of the RS", No. 98/06 and 115/21). In this sense, Article 107 of the Constitution establishes that, among other things, at least 30,000 voters have the right to propose laws, while Article 2 establishes that "sovereignty is vested in citizens who exercise it through referendums, people's initiative and freely elected representatives." In other words, the Constitution recognizes the people's initiative as one of the ways in which citizens exercise sovereignty, i.e. as a way of direct participation of citizens in decision-making in a broader sense. The constitutional right to people's initiative is regulated in more detail by the Law on the Referendum and the People’s Initiative ("Official Gazette of the RS", No. 111/21 and 119/21), whose Article 56 stipulates that "by a people's initiative, citizens propose the adoption, amendment, or repeal of the Constitution, laws, other regulations and general acts within the competence of the National Assembly, and/or of the statute, other regulations and general acts within the competence of the Assembly of the Autonomous Province and Local Self-Government Units, and submit other proposals in accordance with the Constitution and the law, and/or the statute of the Autonomous Province and Local Self-Government Unit." However, until the adoption of the aforementioned law in 2021, the Law on the Referendum and the People's Initiative adopted in 1994 was in force, which stipulated very strict conditions for the initiation and implementation of the people's initiative; therefore, the use of this mechanism of citizen participation was extremely rare. By adopting the new law, the basic prerequisites were created which should enable simpler and more efficient realization of the people's initiative in practice, especially by introducing the possibility to collect signatures of support for the submitted initiative in electronic form. Although the legal framework has been significantly improved in the aforementioned manner, the citizens are still not able to exercise their constitutional right to people’s initiative in a quick, easy and simple way, given that the appropriate electronic system has not yet been established.

2. What are the causes of the problem? The main challenge in solving the identified problem is reflected in the fact that an adequate mechanism for the implementation of the people's initiative in electronic form has not yet been established. More precisely, there is a lack of a suitable software solution which would enable the people's initiative, i.e. the collection of signatures of support, to be realized in a quick, easy and simple way.

Commitment Description

1. What has been done so far to solve the problem? As pointed out in the description of the problem, significant progress was made with the adoption of the new Law on the Referendum and the People's Initiative in 2021, which greatly simplified the procedure and eased the conditions for the implementation of the people's initiative. At the same time, its provisions introduced an electronic people’s initiative for the first time ever, thus creating a legal basis for its implementation in practice. Also, based on the relevant legal provisions, the Government had adopted the Decree on the Electronic People's Initiative ("Official Gazette of the RS", No. 85/23) in 2023, which regulates the conditions, method and procedure for implementing the electronic people's initiative.

2. What solution are you proposing? The commitment implies the establishment of an electronic people's initiative through the creation of a service on the eGovernment Portal https://euprava.gov.rs, which will enable citizens to exercise their right to people's initiative electronically.

3. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment? By establishing an electronic people’s initiative, citizens will be able to exercise their constitutional right and support the submitted people’s initiative in a significantly simpler and more efficient way, with the investment of incomparably smaller amount of resources than before. By simplifying the procedure itself, citizen participation is simultaneously encouraged at all levels of the government, while the citizens are encouraged to directly participate in decision-making processes and the creation of public policies and normative solutions in the wider and narrower community in which they live.

Commitment Analysis

1. How will the commitment promote transparency? N/A

2. How will the commitment help foster accountability? N/A

3. How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions? The commitment directly encourages greater and better participation of citizens in decision-making, enabling them to get involved in these processes in a quick, simple and easy way, while reducing the consumption of time and other resources.

Commitment Planning (Milestones | Expected Outputs | Expected Completion Date)

1. Development of a technical specification for the establishment of an electronic people's initiative | Developed technical specification for the establishment of an electronic people's initiative | IV quarter of 2023

2. Establishing an electronic people's initiative through the creation of a service on the eGovernment Portal https://euprava.gov.rs | A service has been established for the purpose of implementing an electronic people’s initiative on the eGovernment Portal https://euprava.gov.rs | I quarter of 2024

Action Plan Review

(Office for Information Technologies and eGovernment & Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government)

For a complete description of the commitment, see Commitment 1 in the 2023-2027 Action Plan

Context and objectives:

This commitment aims to establish an electronic people’s initiative on the eGovernment portal, which will enable citizens to exercise their right to submit and support a people’s initiative in electronic form. During the co-creation process, the network “I ja se pitam” (“I Have a Say, Too”) proposed to improve public participation at the local level. [1] “I ja se pitam” was invited by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government (MPALSG) to join the consultations to find common ground, since their proposal could not be implemented in its original form. [2] The electronic people’s initiative was welcomed by “I ja se pitam”. [3]

This commitment is a priority for the government following the amendments to the Law on referendum and people’s initiative from 2021. [4] The Law envisioned the establishment of the electronic people’s initiative, to be further regulated by government bylaw. [5] Although this bylaw was adopted in October 2023, the electronic people’s initiative feature was not operational at the time of co-creating the action plan. [6]

In the past, government institutions and the National Assembly often ignored citizens’ initiatives or failed to put initiatives on the voting agenda within a reasonable time period. [7] For example, the initiative of the organization Kreni Promeni in 2022 collected 38,000 signatures to ban the mining of lithium and boron in Serbia. [8] Despite the complexities of collecting and verifying the signatures in a short time (the old law permitted only seven days for collection), [9] this initiative was never taken into consideration by the National Assembly. [10] In July 2024, the Speaker of the National stated that she, as Speaker, did not know where the signatures were. [11] Between 2001 and 2017, no citizen initiative was discussed in the plenary sessions of the National Assembly. [12] These facts speak to a need for easier collection and verification of signatures and for public institutions to take the people’s initiative more seriously.

Potential for results: Substantial

The introduction of an electronic people’s initiative could be a game-changer in the exercise of direct democracy in Serbia, as envisioned by the Constitution. [13] Civil society stakeholders believe this commitment will lead to more initiatives submitted by citizens and make the government more responsive to citizens’ initiatives. [14] Since the signatures are automatically recorded, the possibility for manipulation will be minimized. Civil society pointed out the necessity of strong political will for this commitment to achieve substantial results. [15] At the same time, the MPALSG recognizes the importance of this commitment and is committed to the maintenance and functionality of electronic people’s initiatives after the end of the action plan. [16]

This commitment would make it easier for citizens to sign initiatives and make it faster and cheaper for the proposers of initiatives to collect signatures. [17] It would also substantially change the MPALSG’s work and the work of the National Assembly (as well as provincial and local assemblies) and stimulate a more active citizenry. [18] Initiatives submitted electronically will not require verification by the relevant commission, unlike the previous (paper-based) process. Citizens will no longer need to manually verify the authenticity of signatures. The new qualified electronic certificate that every citizen obtains when they register on the eGovernment portal serves as proof of verification. [19] Also, instead of collecting signatures in writing, this process will be fully digital, while leaving open the option for written signatures as well.

The new system will be applied to all levels of governance. The exercise of the people’s initiative at the local level is rare, even in major cities. [20] Therefore, the electronic people’s initiative is an opportunity to strengthen direct democracy both at the local and central level in Serbia.

Opportunities, challenges, and recommendations during implementation

The electronic people’s initiative feature was established in June 2024. [21] The National Assembly and local assemblies will be responsible for acting on initiatives that receive the necessary number of signatures prescribed by the Law on referendum and people’s initiative. According to a civil society representative, two critical aspects of this commitment will be the development of the technical specifications of this service in the eGovernment portal and the protection of personal data. The MPALSG will need to pay close attention to which persons have access to this sensitive data and secure adequate firewall security from outside attempts to breach it. [22] Regarding the technical aspects, the IRM recommends the MPALSG consult examples from other countries with successful e-petition platforms. For example, Estonia’s Rahvaalgatus platform is a good example of how e-petitions can increase citizens’ participation, openness in communication, and trust between citizens and institutions. [23]

Since people’s initiative are rarely, or almost never, used at the local level, it will be particularly important for the MPALSG to encourage local governments and citizens to use the electronic people’s initiative. Once the platform is launched, the MPALSG could carry out a promotional campaign to inform citizens about the new mechanism, and train local (and central) administrations on how to adequately respond to initiatives. In addition, the MPALSG could pilot the electronic people’s initiative service in select local governments and address any challenges or technical issues in the platform.

Alongside technical and security challenges, political challenges might continue to inhibit the exercise of direct democracy. [24] As mentioned, the National Assembly often does not respond to citizens’ initiatives, despite legal deadlines to respond. Therefore, the concern of civil society that the National Assembly, and/or local assemblies, might continue ignoring electronic initiatives submitted through the eGovernment portal, is justified. Continuation of such practice would reduce the results of this commitment. It will be critical for the MPALSG to raise awareness among National Assembly members, the Assembly secretariat, and the Speaker on how to respond to people’s initiative. Additionally, the MPALSG could generate formal spaces for dialogue and joint work between the national government and the national and local assemblies and civil society to increase the use of the tool, so that popular citizens’ initiatives are taken into consideration.