This was the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy in Taiwan

On Monday 30 September, over 200 participants boarded the "Taiwan Democracy Train", a train that was exclusively reserved for the participants of the pre-forum briefing tour. During a three-day tour, participants from all over the world visited different cities that had been important to the island's democratic history, heard speaches from local activists and had the time to learn about eachother's work on the train.

The conference itself took place in Taichung, the second-largest city in Taiwan, on the campus of the National Chung Hsing University. Over the course of three panels, participants learned about Taiwan's experience with a new referendum law in 2018, when for the first time ever citizens were asked to vote on 10 different questions that had been submitted by citizens' initiative. Throughout 38 workshop sessions, participants had the chance to hear from democracy experts from around the world on a range of topics. At the close of the Forum, Mayor Lu Shiow-yen of Taichung joined the conference to officially sign the Magna Charta for Democracy Cities and enter the city of Taichung into the International League of Democracy Cities.

After the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy, participants headed to Taipei, the country's capital to attend the official founding ceremony of the International League of Democracy Cities, where representatives of 10 cities signed the Magna Charta.