Institutions and Participation.
Our democracy in Northern Ireland must be open and fair through our institutions, our governance practices and how citizens participate in our democracy. The return of devolution should be marked by a new commitment to engage and involve those outside of government with the work and ambitions of a new administration. This should be aimed at generating a new confidence in devolution. This should also include a Civic Forum, Citizen’s Assembly and Youth Assembly.
It is clear that after a long period of absence of devolved government our institutions have not worked as well as we would wish. There must be a new way of identifying and managing emerging risks and critical incidents within the executive which may test the relationships between parties. We also support further reform of the Petition of Concern to fully restore the mechanism to its original purpose; a way of protecting minority communities from abuse by others.
Our Institutions and Participation policies.
SDLP Youth is campaigning for:
change in the Assembly, including increased opportunities for MLAs to submit Private Member’s Bills and Committee-initiated legislation and a review and eventual phasing out of community designation.
the right to request a judicial review of a petition of concern, with the judiciary having the ability to overturn said petition and demand that the vote be carried out again by means of a simple majority vote if the judiciary finds that the petition did not concern a cross-community matter.
the Northern Ireland Assembly to work with partners in the Youth Sector to introduce a shadow Youth Assembly to mirror bodies in England, Wales and Scotland which will increase civic engagement with young people in this region and, in addition to this, we also call for the establishment and/or re-introduction of shadow Youth Councils in each of the new District Council Areas.
the Minister for Infrastructure and SDLP Councillors to study the Special Development Zone (SDZ) planning model used by South Dublin County Council in the Adamstown area as an example of Local Government taking the lead on zoning and practical planning.
the people of Northern Ireland to have a say in any reform of Seanad Éireann.
the full implementation of the recommendations of the Constitutional Convention.
all citizens to be automatically registered (and therefore entitled) to vote once they have received their National Insurance Number, thereby preventing electoral fraud by retaining individual electoral registration but also ensuring widened participation.
the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland (EONI) to introduce a system of electronic ballot counting as soon as possible.
a review into the possibility and implications of implementing online voting within Northern Ireland.
voting in Northern Ireland to be an obligation for all eligible citizens, with the right to declare their prior intention to abstain from voting, but with a fine of £250 for those who either fail to vote or fail to declare their intention to abstain, following the Belgian model.
legislation to be introduced at Westminster providing that all future elections are to be held over the weekend, with voting open from 6am to 11pm on both Saturday and Sunday.
MPs, MLAs and Councillors to be apportioned on the basis of population.
a ban on campaigning of any kind within a 100-metre radius of any polling station whilst polls are open.
the right to vote from the age of 16.
proof of identification to be required in order to apply for postal and proxy votes.
all applications for community funding by groups to be subject to an independent evaluation of the outcomes of their previous work.