Local Government
50
Large Cities
1
Capital Cities
1
Regional or State Governments
0
National Government
0
Other Institutions
0
Local Government
50
Large Cities
1
Capital Cities
1
Regional or State Governments
0
National Government
0
Other Institutions
0
Community
Capital
Prague
Population
10 625 690
Language
Czech
Currency
Czech Koruna
Indexes
Democracy
34
Flawed Democracy
Democracy
Democracy
34
Flawed Democracy
Democracy
Corruption Perception
33/180
Corruption Perception
Corruption Perception
33/180
Corruption Perception
Human Development
27
Very High
Human Development
Human Development
27
Very High
Human Development
World Happiness
20/156
World Happiness
World Happiness
20/156
World Happiness
Legislation Regarding the Regulation of Participatory Budgeting Experiences
There is no legislation about Participatory Budgeting since it is a consultation process.
Outstanding Innovation
The PB process in the Czech Republic used an innovative new voting system called the Janecek Method (JM), aimed at building better consensus between communities during decision-making. The Janecek Method has been utilized in opinion polls and participatory budgeting processes at the organizational and city levels. It is easy to understand, transparent and ideal for the purpose of voter aggregation. Intended to capture and build upon individualistic and multidimensional tendencies of current political participation, it allows voters to cast multiple votes and its designed with the objectives of broadening preference selections beyond party or “ideological” lines, encouraging compromise and leading to improved consensus among voters. Janecek’s approach allows each voter twice as many “Plus” votes as the number of seats available to winners. It also permits voters to cast “Minus” votes, as long as the number of Plus votes are at least twice the number of Minus votes, with only one vote, either positive or negative, cast per candidate. Under this method the winner is the candidate with the highest “net” votes, which is the difference between the plus and minus votes. The method is meant to increase voter satisfaction and participation due to the increased likelihood that at least one of a voter’s choices is eventually elected. The method was initially proposed for application in municipal and parliamentary elections where multiple seats had to be filled. Janecek (2016) argues that the introduction of the minus-vote will lead to better election turnout while ​hindering “populist” and “extremist” candidates from winning elections. Moreover, Janecek observes that the minus vote will “filter notoriously corrupt and criminal actors from a political system where they are too often protected, for example by “hiding” in a party list and benefiting from the goodwill of voters toward their party and its other candidates”. The minus vote is meant to be used against undesirable options and may serve as a countermeasure against support for corrupt candidates, while giving a chance to smaller parties or less popular candidates to gain more voter support.
Principal Tendencies Detected
- Digital practices, including the use of an online platform specifically dedicated to Participatory Budgeting has grown.
- School Participatory Budgeting has been implemented in 40 municipal schools in the Czech Republic, where students are encouraged to ideate and vote on projects to improve their school using the school budget.
- The use of a new voting system called the Janecek Method (JM) designed to improve consensus in decision-making is a vital trait of the participatory budgeting processes of the Czech Republic.
