[pp.int.general] question about organisation of national pirate parties

[Reinier Bakels]

> Reinier Bakels schrieb:
>
>> I believe that direct democracy is indispensable for a political 
>> organisation. Do you?
>
> Yes and no. Direct democracy means (in fact) everyone has a (real) chance 
> for voting. You would need something like postal voting for implementing 
> this. Not cheap (or easy) at all.
>
<snip>
Thx for the update! yes, I know, German association law is notorious. I know 
an international organisation founded by a German professor (in a very 
different field) which adopted Danish association law - for simpilcity sake.

If you say it is not cheap not easy: my experience is that in associations 
usually very few members show up at general assemblies, and usually there is 
no remote voting. General Assemblies really are a "safety valve": the board 
usually does or delegates the work, and the GA only interferes if something 
goes really wrong, in their eyes. Well, because the board knows that the 
safety valve exists, they will refrain from doing things that are likely to 
upset a majority of the members.

For a political party, perhaps the most complicated thing is to decide on 
political positions. Anayway, as far as Dutch law is concerned, elected 
representatives are supposed to act independently (which does not preclude 
having occasional congresses where members can vote). But elected voters are 
supposed to represent (of course) all voters, and according to the Dutch 
constitution, they are even supposed to foster the general interest (which 
is pretty remote from some politicians).

reinier