Why the making of a crowd-sourced Constitution in Iceland failed

<p style="text-align: justify;">The process of constitutional rewriting in Iceland in 2010-2013 was an unprecedented event in modern constitutional democracies as a way of introducing new political and democratic processes. It reflected attempts to come to terms with the consequences of the collapse of the Icelandic banks in 2008 and widespread distrust towards the political parties in Iceland. In June 2010, the Icelandic Parliament, Althingi, passed Act No. 90/2010 establishing a consultative Constitutional Assembly, with the task of revising the constitution. The aim was to involve the citizens in the making of a new constitution, partly through the method of crowd-sourcing. A National Forum was held in November 2010 attended by 950 people, selected at random. Its conclusions reflected viewpoints and some basic values which they wished to see form the basis of Iceland’s new constitution. This was an input in a drafting process by a specially elected 25 representatives in a new consultative Constitutional Assembly. At the same time political parties were excluded from the preparation and drafting stages of the new constitution. However, according to the constitution in force it could eventually only be amended via a procedure in which two parliaments would have to approve a bill of amendment, with a general election taking place in the interim.
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