G519

The G519 was a Brunanter consultation forum in which 519 Brunanter citizens were consulted in a multi-day socioeconomic and political event of decision-making and deliberative democracy. It took place in May 2009, three months after the 2019 general election, in the Plaza Central in Koningstad.

Overview
The event was organized by several political organisations, including Democracy Now, Democracy 2020, BrunantSpeaks and Rally for the Future. Prominent spokespersons of the G519 initiative were author and essayist Carl Ingesson, film director Philip Spring and historian and philosopher Grant Stuiver.

From 13-17 May 2019, around three months after the last general election, a total of 519 people participated in this project. The participators were selected on the basis of their online profiles and among them were members of all political parties, men and women, young and old people, well and less well-educated people, people of ethnic minorities, etc. They were asked questions about various political themes, including education, healthcare, climate, migration, democracy, government and economics. In small groups, the participants discussed these topics, but the ultimate decisions were made in daily general meetings.

G519 wanted to be a new way of involving citizens more directly in political decision-making, in response to the defects of both representative and direct democracy. BrunantSpeaks founder and chairman stated that "G519 was more than a non-binding referendum" and that is was "a deliberative panel". With G519, its organizers wanted to show that democracy is in need of a renewal and that this is possible, but also to attest that politics is closer to citizens than they think and that politics is optimally reflected in a renewed democratic way.

The initiative received much media attention and was positively received by some academics and politicians, however, there was no response from most prominent politicians and all major political parties. There was also criticism from various other political organisations and some academics. G519 was awarded with several prizes and a follow-up in the spring of 2020 has already been announced.