The autumn session of the Parliament started on September 15 and ended on December 29 , 2022. Nineteen plenary sessions, including 17 ordinary and 2 solemn and diplomatic ones took place in this period [1]. The Promo-LEX Association monitored every plenary meeting of the Parliament’s 2022 autumn session and provides an overview of the legislature’s activity in this period.
Initially, 193 issues were included on the agenda of the plenary meetings, later, however, changes being accepted in the proportion of 53%. In the opinion of Promo-LEX, such a share of changes of subjects on the agenda affects the transparency and the predictability of the decision-making process. The largest number of requests for changes in the agenda came from the Permanent Bureau (57) and the parliamentary commissions (35). The greater share of changes in the agenda was recorded in the meetings of 06.10.2022; 20.10.22 and 17.11.2022.
Transparency of the drafts examined by the Parliament in the 2022 autumn session was affected in the proportion of 69%. Transparency of the parliamentary meetings held in December was mostly affected. At the same time, Promo-LEX appreciates the fact that mainly in this session the legislature began to publish the information with regard to the priority or emergency mode for the examination of normative acts.
In the 2022 autumn session, the Parliament voted on 111 draft laws in the first reading, of which two – were rejected; 98 in the second reading (1 was rejected); and 5 draft laws were voted on in final reading, in addition to 22 decisions and 2 motions (1-simple and 1- of censure). It should be mentioned that 29 draft laws were voted in the same meeting in 2 readings. Most of the draft laws subjected to voting concerned such domains as economic, financial, fiscal, social protection, labor and healthcare.
Draft laws that were most frequently subjected to vote were registered by the Government (43%) and those by the parliamentary majority (41%). Only 3% of draft laws subjected to vote were developed by MPs from the BCS fraction. In this regard, we highlight the fact that according to the Parliament Regulations, in addition to the draft laws submitted by the Government and the President, every 6th meeting from the beginning of plenary session, priority is given to draft laws submitted by the parliamentarian opposition. However, few draft laws were submitted by the opposition in this parliamentarian session. At the same time, we always positively appreciate each time the projects that had as authors both deputies from the parliamentary majority and those from the opposition, they usually meet a consensus vote of the majority and the opposition (3%).
Regarding the length of the plenary meetings in relation to the number of draft laws examined, it was not possible to trace a correlation between these values. For example, in the meeting of 12.12.2022, only 5 draft laws were examined, however the session lasted more than 7.5 hours. This can be explained by the complexity of the draft laws debated and voted on, in particular, certain budgeting laws. Conversely, in the meeting of 29.12.2022, 21 draft laws were examined and approved, the meeting lasting about 6.5 hours [2].
Another finding revealed by the monitoring is that the number of MPs registered as present at the plenary meetings is different from the number of MPs participating in the voting process. In none of the monitored meetings, the maximum number of MPs who voted for a draft normative act was equal to that of the number of MPs registered as present. This tendency was noticed by Promo -LEX monitors starting with the first monitoring exercises. Thus, the number of MPs participating in voting ranged between 62% and 96% of the 85 MPs registered as present at the beginning of the session.
MPs absenteeism has become a trend in this autumn plenary sessions, in particular, when it came to the fraction of the SOR Political Party (PPȘ). All MPs of this fractions missed all the plenary meetings, declaring a general boycott to all of the sessions and less having objections to the drafts of the normative acts examined. Similarly, MPs of the Bloc of the Communists and Socialists (BCS) did not participate in five plenary sessions, as a sign of protest (29%).
The Promo-LEX Association does not deny MPs’ right to manifest their disagreement with the drafts of normative acts voted on, by non-participation in plenary meetings. However, we consider that participation in the debate of the draft normative acts, in particular, of MPs from the opposition, increases the transparency of the decision-making process through genuine debates and may contribute to the quality of laws.
In 2023, Promo – LEX will continue monitoring the plenary sessions and will inform society about the activity of the legislature. At the same time, it will observe the cooperation of the Parliament with the civil society and the implementation of the recommendations formulated in The Report on Monitoring of the 1st Year of Activity of 11th Legislature.
In the period of 2021–2025, the activity of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova is subject to an exhaustive monitoring within the Promo -LEX Program “Democracy, Transparency and Responsibility” carried out with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The purpose of monitoring is to increase the transparency of the institution, to contribute to the improvement of legislative procedures and to consolidate the interaction between MPs and citizens.
[1] The two sessions were not taken into the consideration in the cumulative analysis of statistical data.
[2] In this case, the parliamentary opposition boycotted the meeting (both the PPȘ and BCS), the draft laws being examined and voted on quickly.