When was the last time a citizen assembly, anywhere anytime, been
assembled to recommend any SIGNIFICANT decision for referendum by an
electorate. The last one I am aware of is the Citizens Assembly in
British Columbia Canada.

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Clarification of Question by jopieslim-ga on 18 Nov 2004 17:38 PST

Please see my comment on Nov 15, 2004 for clarification of question.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 18 Nov 2004 19:13 PST

Here's an example of a Citizen Assembly in Helsinki in 1999:


http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/english/reports/GHM-Reports-Kosovo.html


It's a bit hard to know if this is the sort of example you're looking
for, as you haven't mentioned any clear-cut criteria for what you
consider a "legitimate" Citizen Assembly.

Let me know if this one fits the bill, and if not, why not.

Thanks.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by jopieslim-ga on 25 Nov 2004 20:38 PST

I was looking for a Citizen Assembly created by government, randomly
selected from a voters list which empowered it to study a topic, in
this case electoral reform, and pose the question to a referendum
which if passed by the electorate requires government to enact. This
puts all power to the electorate and away from political parties or
parties in power.

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Clarification of Question by jopieslim-ga on 25 Nov 2004 20:41 PST

You may want to go to the website which explains the Citizen Assembly
in British Columbia Canada: http://citizensassembly.bc.ca/

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Clarification of Question by jopieslim-ga on 05 Dec 2004 21:15 PST

I am interested in determining whether anywhere in the world a
randomly selected citizen assembly has been formed by a government to
deliberate and recommend a political issue for vote in a binding
referendum by the full electorate and therefore bypassing governmental
approval.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 06 Dec 2004 11:49 PST

I found this mention for a 1990's Citizen Assembly in Fairfax, Virginia:

"For Philip L. Chabot, president of the Fairfax County Citizens
Assembly, a group that met for 18 months and drafted a new county
charter that will be the subject of a public hearing before the board
next month, a new government may not be necessary if an independent
"inspector general" is hired by the board..."



and it's clear that Toronto is currently on the verge of implementing
a BC-style Assembly:


"Premier Dalton McGuinty is rolling the dice by handing over the
decision on the future of our electoral system to a "citizens'
assembly" of randomly chosen people....The assembly could follow the
lead of a similar body in British Columbia, which recently recommended
a loopy system called the single transferable vote (STV), with
multiple-member ridings..."


From a quick look, though, I did not see additional details on either
of these efforts.  Are these items of interest to you...?


pafalafa-ga

It really depends on your definitions, since that concept (with that
name) is Canadian; However, in Switzerland, many important decisions
are ruled by a referendum. I could answer about that, if you'd like me
to.

I was not interested in the use of referendum. I was interested in the
use of ramdomly selected citizens assembly as was used in Greece
several thousand years ago. To my knowledge the British Columbia
Citizen Assembly which is reviewing the electoral system for British
Columbia is the first such citizens assembly since early Greece. Is
that correct?
ps The phrase Citizen Assembly is not a Canadian concept.

In some regions of Switzerland, like Greece, there was some citizens
assembly until '90.

There are still "citizen assemblies" in Switzerland. They are called
Landsgemeinde. However, they only remain in two regions (Glarus and
Appenzell AR, I think).

It seems no one is answering the question. I need to find out if
anywhere in the world a randomly selected citizen assembly has been
struck by any government anywhere to deliberate and make a
recommendation on a significant political issue for vote by the full
electorate in a referendum.