Poland: New Social Network For e-Members of Parliament · Global Voices
Sylwia Presley

After a huge success of Nasza-klasa.pl (“Our Class”), the most popular Polish social network similar to the British FriendsReunited, a new project is becoming well-known in Poland: Nasz-parlament.pl (“Our Parliament”) invites its users to become e-members of parliament and take part in e-voting to show the government the real opinions of the real citizens!
As of now, Nasz-parlament.pl has 636 members, and despite the fact that the first administrator joined the site at the end of April, it became popular only last month, with its 128 threads and 722 posts.
Apart form a discussion space, the portal provides insights into the currently discussed laws. Today, for example, one of the hot topics (POL) is a discussion of the new law on torture in special situations. According to Polish news site Dziennik.pl (POL), if the law is actually introduced, Poland will still have no right to torture at home, but will be able to exercise the right to stop terror suspects and “transfer them to countries like Egypt, where torture might be used.”
This piece of news has generated rather harsh comments on Dziennik.pl‘s forum. User Bożena, for example, is worried (POL):
I think it's time to deprive humanity of the basic freedoms using a dishonest excuse of terrorism. We've never had any terrorist attacks in Poland. God save us from the lies ruling the West, where people are losing their rights and freedom after every said-to-be terrorist attack.
Apart from linking to the current media stories, the Nasz-parlament.pl portal also gives space to politicians themselves to express their opinions and to specialists to share their reports relevant to current laws. (Here, for example, is more info on the consequences of a proposed act on earlier retirement.) All the current parliament members have their own sites on the portal.
As most other start-up portals, this one is looking for a sponsor, according to internetowo.eu blog (POL):
[…] Nasz-Parlament.pl is planning to live off ads or to find a sponsor in the future. […]
Like in any other social networks, users can create their profiles, use groups and forums, contact local representatives, and engage in discussion on-line.
And – let's not forget about the most important role of e-members of the parliament – voting! Nasz-Parlament.pl users can vote, and vote, and vote!
UPDATE: A reader has asked whether the site is available in English, but the answer is ‘no’ – Nasz-Parlament.pl is currently available only in Polish.