Especially for the least well-off for whom it offers a way to stake a claim on public funds normally spent on the more prosperous areas of the city. On this southern winter afternoon, the five hundred or so people crowded into the church of Saint Francis of Assisi look for all the world as though they were attending a football selection board. Selection on rather more European lines, however. Facing the gallery, where representatives of the municipality are assembled, shortly to be joined by the mayor, Raul Pont, the candidates on the two competing sides each have three minutes at the microphone to make their case. The atmosphere is at once serious and relaxed.
Banners are on display.
Half the audience are cheering their champions on, the other half maintaining a dignified silence. The metropolitan area of the city has a population of 1.3 million in a conurbation of 3.3 million, so the scale of the operation, combined with the rigorous and progressive way in which it is conducted, make it an experiment in direct democracy unlike any other anywhere in the world. It has attracted attention among academics and citizens' organisations in a great many countries and international organisations, too, have shown an interest. It was selected for a presentation at the second UN Conference on Human Settlements held in Istanbul in 1996. But there is no triumphalism in the daily round of the mayor, his entourage and members of his administration.