Prague, July 5 (CTK) – Czech Pirates have started collecting signatures for a petition demanding that the civil service should accept online petitions, not only in the paper form, the Pirates told journalists on Thursday.
An online petition may facilitate the foundation of civic lists of candidates for local elections or for a presidential candidate.
“There is no regulation setting down that petitions must be conducted only in the paper form. The petitions are being collected ‘in the old fashion’, just as a sort of habit,” the Pirates said.
“It is so only because the government, the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, Prague or any other state bodies have not set up a special channel through which an online petition should be presented,” the Pirates said.
Technological changes are enough to accept online petitions and no new legislation is needed, they added.
“It is one of our aims to make people join the decision-making. The crushing majority of Praguers have access to the Internet. We want to maximally facilitate their chance to express their views of what the city does or what it should do,” Zdenek Hrib, the Pirates’ candidate for the Prague mayor, said in a press release.
The Pirates were inspired by the webpage through which the British parliament accepts petitions.
If a petition is signed by a sufficient number of people, it must be dealt with by the government or the Chamber of Deputies.
The Pirates believe that the city hall or assembly should also examine the impulses received by the citizens which receive the support set down beforehand.
Online petitions would also facilitate the registration of civic lists of candidates. At present, one has to collect paper signatures by 7 percent of the residents of a municipality. In Prague, this means roughly 90,000 signatures.
