FAQ on Inclusive Voting Procedures > The Work of the Institute > What is your role in Northern Ireland?
The Institute originated from a series of experiments in consensus:
All of the above public meetings involved the participation of both members of the Official/Ulster Unionist Party and representatives of Sinn Féin as well as members of many other parties, of course. And since 1991, all of these experiments have involved the use of programmed multi-option voting systems, computer plus screen and data projector, initially for displaying an up-dated summary of the debate, and later to show the voters' profile and then the results of the vote.
The Institute itself was formally established in 1998. There followed:
And since then, the progress of the Institute has been steady. In 2006, for example, Mediation Northern Ireland hired the services of this Institute in an industrial dispute, a dispute which was successfully resolved, with the use of the three voting procedures advocated by this Institute.
The most recent event was a June 2008 New Ireland Group 'political circle' held at Stormont, in which the director of this Institute presented a paper on an inclusive democratic structure which did not rely on party labels let alone sectarian designations.
And in November, Fortnight magazine published the following review.
Last updated on January 8, 2009 by Deborda
