Laura Alonso, well known civil society activist and 2008 Vital Voices Global Leadership Award winner, has been elected as a national representative in Congress in Argentina.
Laura writes about her path to the election and her plans as a representative in the post below:
I was the Executive Director of Poder Ciudadano, one of the largest NGOs in Argentina for many years. While there, I worked very hard to promote transparency in public administration and politics.
Last May I accepted the offer of a political party and was nominated to be a national representative candidate for Buenos Aires.
Ideally, I would like to work in an open and diverse political environment, where dialogue and debate are encouraged and customary in the decision-making process.
I was recently elected as a national representative and will be in office starting on December 10, 2009. I plan to work on promoting positive reforms, and enhancing transparency in government, Congress and the Judiciary. I believe that national representatives to Congress have a two-fold challenge before us: to legislate and to regain the confidence of citizens.
I believe that technology is working in favor of re-engaging people in politics, and I look forward to using new tools to create a mass collaborative movement around my four-year term in Congress.