DIGITAL TOOLS FOR DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: NEW POSSIBILITIES AND CHALLENGES
Public sphere; democracy; digital democracy; political-democratic participation; popular law initiative; support for a political party in formation; Information and Communication Technology (ICT); Internet; E-Title; LGPD.
Considering that the themes of Democracy and Information and Communication Technology (ICT), previously so distant, have become increasingly closer in the private sphere and, above all, in the public sphere, the aim of this work is to carry out a more attentive analysis of the current system procedural aspects of one of the characteristic instruments of direct democracy - popular initiative law -, and on the electoral procedure for forming a political party, both of which are little explored by scholars regarding the effectiveness of its operationalization. In this study, the plesbicite and referendum are no longer covered due to the differences in the way they are carried out. Analyzing the difficulties faced by voters and public bodies themselves in meeting formal requirements, we investigate how new technologies available on the market could add effectiveness to the popular use of such democratic participation mechanisms, promoting true incentive for political-democratic engagement. To this end, it urges us to delve into representative and participatory democratic constitutional theory; in the evolution in the use of ICTs in the public sphere as a political-democratic instrument, without disregarding the important economic and social challenges that exist in the Brazilian reality; as well as the modernizing role of the Electoral Court in offering its services. Furthermore, it is important to bring into the discussion considerations regarding the topic of digital democracy and the protection of personal data promoted by the General Data Protection Law – LGPD and its applicability in the Electoral Court. In the end, it is proposed to carry out the aforementioned procedures digitally, through the use of the TSE's national biometric registration, in order to improve the functionalities of the Superior Court's E-Título application.