Moscow uses blockchain in 'Active Citizen' project to involve citizens in government decision-making

Rage Comment : The Moscow City Government wants to explore the potential of blockchain technology and use it in various application cases. The recently proposed Active Citizen project allows Moscow citizens to obtain access to the platform through smartphone applications and websites, allowing citizens to participate in discussions and voting on the city functions of Moscow and its regional governments through voting. It can increase the participation of Moscow citizens in government decisions. However, it is still in the pilot stage. On the one hand, it can figure out the operating principles of blockchain technology, and on the other hand, it can get rid of everyone's doubts about the project, because allowing citizens to participate in voting may not achieve satisfactory results in the final decision.

Translation: Nicole

Moscow government officials want to explore the potential of blockchain technology and use it in various use cases, including the Active Citizen project. The city government initiative is a technology project aimed at increasing the participation of Moscow citizens in government decisions.

The deputy director of Moscow's information technology department said that he is ready to use blockchain technology in the "Active Citizen" project. Andrei Belozerov revealed in a meeting at the Russian Presidential Palace that he is very interested in using blockchain technology.

Belozerov

Belozerov was quoted by the well-known Russian news agency RNS as saying:

Moscow wants to become a platform for using blockchain technology, and the "Active Citizen" project we offer is a pilot project. On the one hand, we want to use blockchain technology as a pilot technology to figure out how blockchain technology works. On the other hand, we want to get rid of everyone's doubts about the Active Citizen project.

Questions about the Active Citizen Project

The "Active Citizen" project is an initiative of the new city government, where citizens of Moscow can gain access to the platform through smartphone applications and websites. The project allows citizens to participate in discussions and votes on city functions of Moscow and its regional governments through voting. Citizens have up to two weeks to vote before the results are sent to the agency that asked the question. At this point, the agency has two weeks to consider how the decision will meet the expectations of the majority.

Although the idea of ​​the Active Citizen project is very novel, it has still been met with a lot of skepticism. A Moscow citizen said in an email to The Guardian:

Another initiative of the new government team is a website and smartphone app called "Active Citizen" that allows users to "directly influence government decisions" for national lawmakers, allowing users to choose the name of a new park or the color of seats in a new stadium, the need to widen paid parking areas, close hospitals, private transport city traffic entrances and create special car lanes.

Moreover, the most popular answers often do not produce satisfactory results. In 2014, one of the questions asked to citizens was “What sports and recreational activities are the most important in parks?” The most popular answer to this question was “Segway.” As a result, parks were opened to Segways, but this led to an increase in the number of injuries in Moscow parks.

Blockchain Fair Voting

Despite these criticisms, Belozerov acknowledged that the project has received a lot of attention because it could reportedly change the voting numbers. Therefore, he believes that blockchain technology with local trusted nodes can calm doubts about the project in general.

Any form of citizen vote is digitally signed and placed on the blockchain, which can form a series of nodes and be placed on a trusted institution.

Belozerov added that Russia’s largest bank Sberbank is keen to join the project as one of the hubs running a node. In the past, Sberbank has expressed its interest in joining the R3-led global banking blockchain consortium. In a nod to blockchain technology, Sberbank expressed its disappointment with the frequently proposed Bitcoin ban bills.

Bolozerov believes that a public ledger will bring transparency to the entire process.

Therefore, when deciding the outcome of a vote, any blockchain member can view the votes of others.