THE hope that the July uprising ignited appears to be fading after just one year. Those who once felt the experience of power are now scattered and beginning to feel powerless. Many have grown sceptical that there will be any qualitative changes. While the interim government has taken several reform initiatives and sought to amend various laws and regulations, legislation alone cannot guarantee the rights and freedoms of the people. Laws ultimately falter when confronted with entrenched authority. Political systems remain just and stable only when power is balanced, widely shared and open to genuine citizen participation.
One practical way to enable citizens to unite and express their views in meaningful ways is through sortation, the method of selecting political officials by lottery. This is not a novel idea. Ancient Athens used sortition to appoint most key public officials. Its governance structure comprised five major institutions, all but the Popular Assembly (ekklesia) employing this method. The Popular Assembly was open to all male citizens over eighteen. Members of the Council (boule) of 500 were chosen at random to serve for a year, with no citizen allowed more than two terms in a lifetime. Around 600 out of 700 magistrate positions (archai) were assigned by lot to citizens over thirty for one-year terms. Before taking office, those selected underwent an examination, or dokimasia, to ensure they met the requirements. Each year, 6,000 citizens aged thirty or over were drawn from volunteers to form the Heliastai. From this group, members were selected daily by lot to serve in the people鈥檚 courts (dikasteria), sometimes in panels exceeding 500. These measures were designed to prevent elite dominance and ensure broad, direct participation in public decision-making. Late medieval and early Renaissance Italian republics also used sortition to select political officials, demonstrating its adaptability to different contexts.
In recent decades, sortition has re-emerged in the form of citizens鈥� assemblies, where randomly chosen citizens deliberate on specific political issues. Participants typically learn about the matter through a combination of expert presentations, reading materials, and facilitated discussions, before producing proposals or recommendations for policymakers. In 2009, Iceland鈥檚 鈥榥ational assembly鈥� brought together 1,200 randomly chosen individuals, alongside 300 sectoral representatives, to chart the nation鈥檚 future direction. In Michigan, the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission 鈥� 13 randomly selected citizens 鈥� ended decades of gerrymandering in the state鈥檚 electoral maps. Paris has established a permanent Citizens鈥� Assembly, with 100 new members chosen each year. According to the OECD鈥檚 Deliberative Democracy Database (2023), there have been 733 such assemblies, councils and juries worldwide since 1979.
If Bangladesh wishes to create spaces where citizens chosen by lot participate directly in decision-making, several starting points could be considered. A constitutional assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution could include 50鈥�100 randomly selected members alongside politicians, giving ordinary citizens a direct role in shaping the nation鈥檚 foundational document. This would help ensure that constitutional provisions reflect the perspectives and priorities of the wider population rather than only political elites.
Proposals for an upper house in Parliament have been under discussion for some time, but disagreements remain over its structure and membership. Instead of leaving both chambers entirely in the hands of politicians, an upper house composed of randomly selected, non-partisan citizens could act as a check on the lower house and increase public trust in parliamentary decisions.
Public universities could also host permanent student assemblies, each composed of 100鈥�200 students randomly chosen each year, with a new group selected at the end of every term. Such assemblies could serve as forums for discussing a wide range of national and campus issues, encouraging young people to develop informed views and take part in public debate. Private university students, who many feel have been sidelined after the July uprising despite their significant role during that period, could form similar bodies to ensure their voices are heard.
At the local level, municipalities could convene citizens鈥� assemblies of 200鈥�300 residents to deliberate on matters affecting their communities, from urban planning to environmental management. These local assemblies would make decision-making more responsive to community needs and reduce the perception that governance is distant or unaccountable.
For policy formulation on major national issues, temporary citizens鈥� assemblies could be organised to gather public opinion in a structured way. By including people from different regions, backgrounds and experiences, such assemblies could help ensure that policies are grounded in the realities faced by ordinary citizens rather than the assumptions of a narrow political class.
Political parties often claim to represent the people, yet rarely involve citizens directly in their decision-making processes. The newly formed National Citizens Party, which has gained attention through mass outreach efforts, could go further by organising citizens鈥� assemblies at various levels. Random selection would allow the party to hear from people who might not normally engage with politics, providing insights into the reasons behind their views and incorporating these into policy development.
Sortition is not a replacement for all forms of representation, but it can serve as a powerful complement to existing democratic structures. By involving ordinary people in deliberation and decision-making, it can help break the cycle of political disengagement and restore a sense of shared responsibility for the public sphere. At a time when faith in political processes is low and the energy of last year鈥檚 uprising risks being lost, creating spaces for genuine citizen participation may be one of the most effective ways to sustain democratic renewal.
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Anwar Hossain Forhad is a development practitioner.
