On the 14th of February, 2026, something historic happened in a town just north of Stockholm. A new political party was born—and it’s arrived without a name.
Vallentine’s Day: Democracy’s First Date
At 11:00 AM, people gathered at Vallentuna torg (the center of the square) to do something unprecedented. They founded a political party publicly through a live, democratic voting process.
Here’s what they did:
- Gathering and Login: Opening vallentuna.app on the smartphone.
- Suggest: Pitch a name that resonates. Everyone had the right to propose one name.
- Rank: They ranked the suggested names in real-time.
- Decide: The top candidates go to a final head-to-head. The winning candidate became the party’s official name.
That’s it. No backroom deals, no branding consultants—just democracy in action from the very first breath.
We only had one small request: We ask that “Vallentuna” be part of the name to honor our local roots.
The winning result: Vallentuna framåt (Vallentuna forward)
Why Vallentuna forward?
If you’ve followed this blog, you know this town is special. In 2002, Vallentuna’s local party Demoex became the world’s first internet-based direct democracy party to win a seat. It drew journalists from Tokyo to New York. We were at the front, but dropped the initiative and the momentum. Now it’s time to take the command again.
Twenty-four years later, we’re returning to those roots. We still believe ordinary people can govern themselves, but this time, we’ve upgraded the engine. This new party is built on Peer Democracy . The model is designed to solve the “bugs” of early digital democracy, like civic fatigue and power concentration.
Book Launch: The Blueprint
Saturday also marked the premiere of the book, Jämlik Demokrati – Peer Democracy in Swedish. It charts the journey from the Demoex experiment to a scalable model for the future. If you’ve ever wondered how a local Swedish experiment could inspire a global citizens’ council, this is the manual.
And Then We Danced
Democracy should be a celebration, not a chore. To toast our new name, the festivities moved to Vallentuna Bowlinghall at 8:00 PM for live music and dancing.
It was Valentine’s Day, after all. Or as we’re calling it: Vallentine’s Day.