Online service for launching residents' initiatives has been opened
A new online service for launching residents' initiatives, Kuntalaisaloite.fi, is now open. The service is produced and administered by the Ministry of Justice, and it is meant for both municipal residents and municipalities. The service provides a platform for launching residents' initiatives in Finnish and Swedish, and it may be accessed at www.kuntalaisaloite.fi.
In the new service, municipal residents may submit initiatives to the municipalities that have taken the service into use as well as support and follow initiatives launched by others.
Under the Local Government Act, residents of a municipality have the right to submit initiatives on matters concerning the municipality’s activities. Action undertaken as a result of an initiative must be notified to those who submitted the initiative.
In future, the service will also enable launching such initiatives where either consideration by the local council or a municipal referendum is proposed. These kinds of initiatives may be launched only by those residents of the municipality in question who are entitled to vote.
The service has been developed as a part of the project for Finnish eParticipation Environment, which is part of the Action Programme on eServices and eDemocracy (SADe) coordinated by the Ministry of Finance. Other related online services are Kansalaisaloite.fi for launching citizens' initiatives, Otakantaa.fi for discussing current affairs within the state administration and Lausuntopalvelu.fi for submitting statements (to be published later). All the services are administered by the Ministry of Justice.
Further information:
Laura Nurminen, Project Manager, tel. 02951 50462
Mikko Levämäki, Project Manager, tel. 02951 50410
e-mail: [email protected] and [email protected]