´óÏó´«Ã½

At the moment, doesn't favour direct democracy.

The system in place in Switzerland - where the public are invited to vote in referenda on a variety of issues - she says, is a "very funny business".

Her argument is that MPs are elected to make decisions and if that power is taken out of their hands then there is little point in having politicians.

If the public strongly disagree with her on any given issue, "they have a remedy in the ballot box".

This makes the weekend's all the more relevant to our little experiment.

France's finance minister Bernard Kouchner says the decision should be reversed but with around 55% voter turnout - 57% of which was in favour - the decision has been taken out of the Swiss government's hands.

Ann believes that she is there to exercise judgement - after seeking expert advice if necessary - and account for it.

The dilemma for the Swiss government to decide is whether, once they ask them, the voter is always right.

The dilemma for us is to find out if the constituents of Maidstone would like the right to be asked.

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The problem with Maidstone Grammar School for Boys is that it takes an awful lot of people to fill its very large hall.

While the local media turned out, the room was still at least 90% empty.

But this was Ann's decision and Ann's announcement

It wasn't a case of the public not turning up - they were never invited to the meeting - but the row after row of blue chairs comes as a stark reminder of the challenge facing us.

Is it really possible to fill this sort of space with newly politically-engaged constituents? Are masses of people really just waiting for their chance to attend public meetings?

That's what we're going to find out on Monday 14 December when the public will be invited to pitch their ideas for change to Ann at a special meeting in Maidstone.

Back to the present. The media coverage was good. did a very nice interview, ´óÏó´«Ã½ South East did a report and produced a piece but the reaction has not, so far, been overwhelming.

Over 24 hours since the experiment started and not a single comment on Ann's blog.

There's a lot of work still to be done.

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The People%27s Politician launched this morning. Put simply, it's an experiment to work out why around 17 million people registered to vote at the last general election did not do so.

It gives us a chance to test out some of the ideas behind direct democracy - the posh term for the vastly overused quote "power to the people" - and to uncover what motivates the public's interest (or not) in politics.

It is for a programme to be aired on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two early in 2010.

First, we go to the constituency of Maidstone and the Weald, Kent - home to our first MP, the Conservative Ann Widdecombe - to spend three weeks allowing her constituents, and public as a whole, an unusually high level of access to their representative.
We've given Ann a , a , a and the ability to record a .

While what she does with them is entirely up to her, we have stressed the importance of trying these tools out for at least as long as the experiment runs.

We have also opened up voting on her website, both on local and national issues. We have even promised access to Ann from any constituent who gets enough signatures on their petition.

You can keep up-to-date with the experiment here on the blog, on our , and on .

We intend to make the experiment as open and as transparent as possible while it is happening. So, on our blog, rushes of the programme will be uploaded as well.

In the New Year, Richard Caborn - Labour MP for Sheffield Central - will undergo a similar process.

One important thing to stress is that it is an experiment in how the public and politicians can re-connect - it's not about party political campaigning and the politicians involved have agreed to it on those terms.

The press conference was at 9.30am. It was certainly an interesting affair. Much more to follow....

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Two MPs - one Conservative (Ann Widdecombe - Maidstone and the Weald), one Labour (Richard Caborn - Sheffield Central) - who are both standing down at the next general election - will take part in the experiment facilitated by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ over a three-week period.

They will each use a separate, special People%27s Politician website - which will include a message board, a blog and voting options for constituents on a range of issues along with the opportunity to put forward local and national petitions, the most popular of which will go forward for consideration by the MP.

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