Shadow Parliament

Shadow Parliament was Citizens Foundation's first project, opened in 2009 in the aftermath of Iceland's financial crisis. The idea was direct and practical: take the work of Alþingi, Iceland's Parliament, and make it available in a public space where people could follow, debate and prioritize the proposals moving through the formal political system.

The platform automatically presented parliamentary bills and resolutions for public discussion. Citizens could support or oppose proposals, add arguments for and against them, and see which issues were attracting attention outside the walls of Parliament. It turned dense legislative material into a living civic agenda, using the same deliberative patterns that later became central to Your Priorities.

Shadow Parliament received a 20,000 EUR grant from the Icelandic Parliament. It was an early proof that open digital tools could connect citizens with parliamentary work in a more continuous way than elections, petitions or one-off consultations, and it helped shape the Citizens Foundation approach to participatory democracy.

The project later continued as Dear Parliament on the Better Iceland participatory network, where parliamentary items were again presented for public discussion. Dear Parliament has now concluded; this page preserves the original Shadow Parliament project as the main story.