There is currently no way to search data from multiple parliaments in a structured manner. The reason: the 26 cantonal parliaments, 461 municipal parliaments, and the national parliament publish their data in different formats, structures, and qualities, which are not compatible or linked with each other.
This makes the search for important information on parliamentary business, government decisions, and consultations complicated, unclear, and time-consuming.
With POLITmonitor and the consolidation of unstructured parliamentary data, we have already done extensive work. With this online monitoring tool that we developed, political information can be queried and presented uniformly in a short time for the federal government, cantons, and 40 cities.
Now we are taking a step further: as part of the Open Parl Data project, we are working with opendata.ch to standardize and structure our data foundation. With the shared goal of collaboratively shaping digitalization, a new data hub for political business will be created in the coming year. The POLITmonitor team is closely accompanying this process and the associated standardization.
After the successful completion of the project, we will be able to use the new infrastructure for POLITmonitor: our data foundation will gain stability, security, and sustainability, and new application fields for the use and analysis of Swiss parliamentary data will be opened.
Open Parl Data: The New Data Hub for Political Business in Switzerland
The Open Parl Data project, initiated by the Mercator Foundation Switzerland, aims to make parliamentary data in Switzerland more accessible and enable its further processing. It includes the following key aspects:
• Central Data Pool: Providing a comprehensive data hub that includes information on political business, politicians, committees, conflicts of interest, sessions, and parliamentary votes from the federal government, the 26 cantons, and over 40 cities.
• Easy Accessibility: The political data can be accessed via a web interface and an API (REST-API).
• Open Technologies: The entire platform, including code and import scripts, will be freely available under an open-source license.
• Standardization: Initiating an open eCH standard for parliamentary data in collaboration with parliaments and relevant stakeholders.
• Timeliness and Reliability: Daily updates ensure always current information from reliable official sources.
Kickoff Meeting for the Presentation of Open Parl Data – Join Us!
We warmly invite you to our online kickoff meeting, where we will present Open Parl Data in detail and answer your questions. Take this opportunity to actively participate in the further development of the project. Together, we want to build an engaged and vibrant community around the topic of open parliamentary data.
• Date: September 3, 2024
• Time: 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
• Zoom Meeting: Click here to join
• Recording: Available online later.
POLITmonitor Remains Your Professional Solution for Political Monitoring
Currently, nothing changes for our POLITmonitor customers: All functions that are already available to our users will continue to be offered in the future. These include, in particular, personalization options and collaboration tools for working within an organization (lists, topic assignments, creation of summaries, reporting, notifications, calendar functions, etc.).
After the project is completed, the new Open Parl Data infrastructure will be integrated into POLITmonitor. Building on this dataset, all functions will continue to operate. By participating in Open Parl Data, we help improve data quality at the source; furthermore, new fields of political analysis based on Swiss parliamentary data are opened up.
About the Mercator Foundation Switzerland
The Mercator Foundation Switzerland develops, tests, and disseminates ideas to solve current challenges together with various stakeholders. It strengthens civil society and forges broad alliances to initiate change and shape the future. It keeps its vision in mind – a democratic, fair, and ecologically sustainable society.
About opendata.ch
The non-profit association Opendata.ch is committed to using data, software, and knowledge for the common good.
To this end...
• it promotes open, human-centered projects and infrastructure (Hackathons, Prototype Fund),
• it strengthens collaboration in the data ecosystem (Working Groups, Forum, Hackathons),
• it advocates for supportive legal and political frameworks,
• it promotes data literacy (Data Café), and
• it supports the public sector in becoming more open, human-centered, and innovative.
Opendata.ch was founded in 2012 and is part of the international Open Knowledge Network. The association’s members include organizations from the public sector, private sector, and individual members.
Further Information
• To the Open Parl Data project on GitLab
• October 29: MINT'talk «Political Transparency through Open Data»