Australian Political Party Aims to Reinvent Democracy with Blockchain Tech

A new Australian political party called Flux, is attempting to reinvent the democratic process with a voting system based on blockchain technology.

“Flux, as a party, is a layer for the redistribution of political power.“

The men behind Flux, Max Kaye and Nathan Spataro, view the current voting system in Australia as an antiquated monster that does not serve the needs of the general public. In an interview with Reuters, Spataro remarked that a new democratic system is necessary to accommodate the modern  tech-oriented Australian society, “We’re in a society now that’s got the Internet and when democracy in its current form was conceived, you had to sail on a ship from England to get here. This model wasn’t designed for this world.” said Spataro.

The Flux system uses digital tokens that are utilized by members to cast votes, members also have the ability to exchange the tokens with other members. When Flux party members cast votes, the elected official who represents Flux will then cast a vote in parliament based on the vote distribution percentages from voting members.

“Unlike other representatives, Flux candidates are not autonomous, and their votes in parliament are determined wholly by Flux participants.“

The tokens are issued on a blockchain system, where transparency is ensured due to the fact that everyone can see what happens on the blockchain.

While the idea sounds great in theory, some experts have raised questions about the viability of such a system. In a Reuters article, Dr. Adrian Lee, digital currency expert from the University of Technology Sydney, said that one of the flaws of the Flux system would be the elected representatives themselves, as there is no method to ensure that they act in accordance with the will of the voting members:

“If you removed the politician and made it just a bitcoin machine, then maybe it would work but you can’t do that,”

Peter Chen, a lecturer from the University of Sydney, referred to the creators and supporters of the Flux system as “delightfully naive people”.

While the academics may not think much of blockchain democracy, the Flux system currently has 1031 registered members and 550 valid registered voters.

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