The Azores have 10 projects put to voting under the Participatory Budget of Portugal (OPP), seven of which are of regional scope: five in area of Justice and two in the area of Internal Administration. In turn, the remaining three of national scope: two in the area of Culture and one in the area of Agriculture.
Under this participatory democracy initiative, in which the Region has established itself as a partner of the National Government for its implementation in the Azores, through the Vice-Presidency, each citizen will be entitled to two votes, one for a regional project and the other for a national project.
The Azorean projects put to voting are for consultation at the address https://opp.gov.pt/projetos/todos until September 10. The winning projects should be publicly presented in that month.
In order to vote, citizens must access the OPP website ((https://opp.gov.pt/) or send a free text message to 3838, identifying the number of their favourite project.
The format of the text message should be: OPP <space> <project number> <space> <Civil Identification Number>.
The State Budget for 2017 has allocated 375 thousand Euros to the Participatory Budget of Portugal (OPP) for the implementation of regional projects by citizens residing in the Azores in the areas of Justice and Internal Administration. The allocation of funds "per capita" is eight times than that awarded to Mainland Portugal and corresponds the areas under the State's supervision in the Region.
An additional amount of 375 thousand Euros will be allocated to the implementation of national projects in the areas of Agriculture, Culture, Science and Education and Adult Education.
Following the presentation session of OPP in the Azores, Participatory Meetings were held in the archipelago for the presentation of proposals; 10 were selected for voting.