Image via Flickr user Fei.cn

On Saturday evening, Iceland took an important first step toward rewriting its constitution, as the majority of the small island nation’s population voted in favour of using a crowdsourced draft as the of basis its new constitution. Iceland’s politicians asked their constituents on Facebook and Twitter what changes they would like to see to the country’s constitution, and nearly two-thirds of those who voted in Saturday’s referendum voted in favour of using their fellow countrymen’s ideas as the foundation of their new constitution. 

The event that prompted Icelanders to rework their constitution happened in 2008 when Iceland became one of the worst hit casualties of the recent financial crisis. The recession caused the collapse of the nation’s domestic banks, which, in the process, caused the near downfall of the country’s government as well; part of the reason Iceland was so hard hit by the recession was that the country’s government and banks were in collusion with one another.  

The draft Icelanders created is non-binding, and the country’s current sitting parliament has to decide if and how to implement their citizen’s suggestions. Still, it’s encouraging to see how technology is enabling Icelanders to take a more active role in their own governance. In any case, whatever form it may take, Iceland’s new constitution is expected to be finalized in the spring of 2013. [Gigaom]

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Igor Bonifacic is a writer working for the Toronto Standard. You can follow him on twitter at @igorbonifacic. 

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