DemocracyOS
DemocracyOS was an open-source web platform for democratic deliberation and voting, developed in Buenos Aires from 2012 by the Net Party (Partido de la Red) — the same group that later founded Democracy Earth Foundation. The software allowed governments and organisations to publish proposals, host structured debate, and collect participant votes, with a clean interface designed for non-specialist users.
Its most notable deployment was with the Argentine Chamber of Deputies, which used DemocracyOS to consult citizens on specific bills — one of the first cases of a national legislature adopting open-source civic tech for real consultation. The platform was also used by vTaiwan in its early phases before Taiwan moved to Pol.is-based tools.
DemocracyOS was influential in the 2013–2017 civic tech wave: its open-source model, clean design, and government adoption made it a reference implementation for "deliberative voting" platforms. The founding team's subsequent work (Democracy Earth, Open Collective) shows where the intellectual lineage went. The platform itself became largely unmaintained as the team moved on.
Key people
- Pia Mancini — co-founder; later co-founded Democracy Earth Foundation and Open Collective.
- Santiago Siri — co-founder; later co-founded Democracy Earth Foundation.
Links
- Source code: github.com/DemocracyOS/democracyos
- Wikipedia: DemocracyOS