The major Canadian political parties hold leadership elections open to party members (indirectly through convention delegates mostly). Party membership is entirely a private undertaking, and generally just requires a small financial contribution and a promise that you don't already belong to another party.
Yes, it is still being actively developed, at a slowish rate depending on how many other projects are going on at the same time. We release a new build around every two-three weeks, with minor enhancements and bug fixes.
Releasing the source is no big deal, but I would have to spend some time wrapping it up nicely to make it accessible to outsiders.