Problem addressed
In a democracy, the average citizen has formal rights to influence decisions but rarely a real, practical channel to use them. Between elections every four years, people are left to participate passively or cynically while power concentrates in ever fewer hands – a gap that is widening as authoritarian and populist tendencies rise across Europe and trust in institutions falls. Referendums, the one direct tool available in Latvia, are rare, slow and expensive. Citizens want to solve concrete, everyday problems affecting their quality of life and public services, but individual concerns seldom translate into action, and those least connected to power are the least heard of all. There has been no everyday instrument to turn one person's idea into collective influence on the law before ManaBalss (MyVoice).
Innovative solution
Before ManaBalss (MyVoice), there was no everyday instrument to turn one person's idea into collective influence on the law. Our innovation is not the website but the binding bridge behind it: a legislated guarantee that any initiative reaching 10,000 signatures (0.5% of the population) must be formally reviewed by parliament. Unlike ordinary petition sites that collect signatures and hope someone listens, ManaBalss is wired directly into the lawmaking process – every qualifying idea is fact-checked, made legally sound, and then genuinely considered by elected officials. Just as important, it activates the large, normally passive majority: citizens willing to give just two minutes become a real political force, regardless of wealth, status or connections. The result is a fast, trusted, everyday alternative to referendums – and in moments of crisis, a democratic "first-aid kit".
Key results and benefits
In nearly 15 years ManaBalss has become an integral part of Latvian democracy. 118 citizen initiatives have won support in parliament and changed the laws – one of them the Constitution, the only known citizen-initiated constitutional change made through digital democracy anywhere in the world. Around one-third of Latvia's population are platform users and over two-thirds are readers – both world records for civic engagement. Collective submissions have featured constantly on parliament's agenda for 15 years, and the estimated fiscal impact of these initiatives on the state budget runs into the €100–200 million range. The work has been recognised with the European Parliament Citizens' Prize.
Potential for mainstreaming
ManaBalss rests on a fully transferable model: a free, fact-checked online platform plus a legislated guarantee that qualifying initiatives must be heard. Any democracy facing low trust and weak everyday participation can adopt it – the technology is the easy part; the real work is establishing the rules of engagement with lawmakers, which Latvia has proven can be done. Our strategic goal for the coming years is to export the ManaBalss model. Scaling it across Europe would give citizens everywhere the same direct, daily influence over the laws that govern them, strengthening democratic resilience at a moment when it is under growing pressure.
