Citizens Are Bypassing Politicians to Practice Democracy by Social Media Ana Campoy - Quartz
go to original February 22, 2016

Iniciativa ciudadana Ley 3de3 (Ley 3de3)

Mexicans have the right to bypass their elected officials and propose laws directly to congress. But so far, it’s been practically impossible to do so, due to the requirement of a 0.13% backing by the electorate, or more than 100,000 signatures in ink and on paper.

Now a mishmash of citizen groups is using Facebook and Twitter to get over that hurdle, in order to propose a law that would combat corruption. Through those platforms, they are asking Mexicans to download and sign the official form (link in Spanish) required for citizen law proposals and turn it in at any one of 140 delivery points around the country, which they’ve conveniently pinned on Google Maps. There are also delivery points in the United States.

Perhaps more importantly, organizers want signers to encourage all their social media connections to do the same by using the hashtag #YaFirméLey3de3, which translates to: “I already signed the three-of-three law.” The initiative, which aims to encourage transparency and reduce corruption, is known as the three-of-three law because it requires officials to submit three documents to the public: a statement of interests, tax return and list of assets.

The effort, which was launched at the beginning of the month by a coalition of non-profits, has been adopted by one of Mexico’s most prestigious universities, Tecnológico de Monterrey (Spanish), as well as the national employer organization (Spanish) and chambers of commerce, which have made their offices around the country available as signature collection points. It has been signed by intellectuals and internet personalities, as well as politicians across the ideological spectrum (Spanish.)

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