The City of Madrid has launched a series of citizen consultations using new technologies with the objective of involving citizens in local politics and evaluating the effectiveness of the electronic mechanisms of participation used. The first e-consultation, which took place in June 2004, represented the largest e-participation experience in Spain, with approximately 130,000 citizens of Madrid having been consulted on three key issues affecting their district. Citizens expressed their opinion through three different voting channels: Internet, mobile phones and short messages (SMS). The E-vote and e-democracy blog, operated independently by a political science lecturer affiliated with the University of Leon (Spain) Electronic Voting Observatory, is monitoring the results of the consultation. With a draft report of the MadridParticipa and related links. In English and Spanish.
