1. Public e-petition platform MyVoice “ManaBalss.lv now puts Latvia at the forefront of European efforts to shift some forms of political participation to the Internet.” April 9, 2013 Madara Peipina, CEO 18th of February, conference “Open Eirope: Open Data for Open Society”

2. Founded in 2011 First initiative - “Let's Open The Parliament!” - resulted in “Collective Submission” amendment

3. HOW DOES IT WORK? INITIATIVE SUBMITTED TO MANABALSS.LV, REVIEWED, IMPROVED INITIATIVE PUBLISHED ON MANABALSS.LV COLLECTING SIGNATURES 10 000 SIGNATURES >> SUBMITTED TO PARLIAMENT RIEVIEWED IN PARLIAMENT (TECHNICAL) REVIEWED & DISCUSSED IN PARLIAMENTARY COMMISION (CONTENT) A VOTE IN PARLIAMENT (SUGGESTED BY THE COMMISSION)

4. Results 3 years later: ● 14 e-petitions have received more than 10 000 votes (+ 2 more “jumped” on Parliament's agenda anyway) ● 8 e-petitions have received a vote on Parliament and become law amendments. ● Over 35% of Latvia’s population has visited ManaBalss.lv ● Recognized as an Open Government success story world wide

5. WHY DOES IT WORK? ● Successful partnership with the State - the legal right to “collective submission” acknowledged in the law. ● Functional, user friendly, simple tool, accessible to everyone, no bureaucracy ●Results oriented ●Legal, copywrite, media support for authors ●Low costs for the author and users ●Age limit - 16 ●No time limits

6. Thank you! Madara Peipina madara@manabalss.lv +371 22077684