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Progressive Politics NI

Belfast North - Fixing Our Politics

We should move away from mandatory coalition
The Petition of Concern should be abolished or reformed
We should rid the assembly of Unionist/Nationalist designations
The secrecy of historical party donations should be ended
The legal voting age should change from 18 to 16 years of age
The House of Lords should be reformed so that Lords are elected by the public and not chosen by political parties
Special advisors in Stormont should be selected via employment trawl and not chosen by Ministers
Individuals should be automatically registered to vote upon turning 16
Mail-in voting should be simplified and more accessible
Investigations should take place into the addition of electronic voting to our current system
MLAs should be banned from employing family as staff
Assembly terms should be reduced from 5 years to 4 years to give the public a say in democracy more often
"Polling Day" should be on public/bank holidays and/or be over a period of 2 days to encourage voter turn-out and make elections more accessible
The libel law in Northern Ireland should be reformed
Comments
  • I think to remove designations as a Unionist or nationalist at the assembly is regressive and reactionary to a divided society rather than promoting tolerance for a diverse one. I would like to see the scrapping of mandatory coalition which is effectively an arranged marriage of two ideologically opposite parties and replaced with a system similar to that employed by councils whereby all parties share both power and responsibility in governance. Absolutely support the lowering of the voting age to 16 to do this responsibility we need to introduce a model of active citizenship and democracy into the curriculum- empowering young people to lead the change they want to see in their own lives. I'm agnostic on family being recruited to an MLAs office. I believe 5 year term is necessary to effect change and do not support lowering the term. That's not to say that I don't want to enhance the relationship and engagement between the public and their political institutions- I do - I just don't think this is it.
  • The reform of the House of Lords into an elected second chamber should be welcomed but not with the continuance of the peerage system