Parliamentary activity in fall term sees 369 legislative texts submitted

Parliament has seen a flurry of legislative activity in the current term, with a total of 369 texts deposited in both the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors as of last March. Of these, 103 bills were submitted, with 85 in the House of Representatives and 18 in the House of Councilors.

Additionally, 266 law proposals were put forward, with 221 in the House of Representatives and 45 coming from advisors.

According to official data obtained by Hespress, the House of Representatives approved 64 draft laws while the House of Advisors approved 70 projects. The House of Representatives also approved six draft laws and four proposals that had been approved by the Upper House.

A number of legislative texts withdrawn from consideration, including five bills and four draft laws from the House of Representatives, as well as two draft laws and one proposal from the House of Advisors.

In terms of government response to the legislative proposals and questions posed by parliamentarians, 21 law proposals were accepted, with 18 coming from the House of Representatives and three from the House of Advisors. The government also answered 78 percent of the 8,531 questions posed by the House of Representatives, and 65 percent of the 3,316 questions posed by advisors.

Meanwhile, opposition factions have been critical of the government’s handling of the legislative process.

At a recent press conference, they accused the prime minister of violating the constitution by failing to attend monthly questions sessions related to public policy, and threatened to resort to royal arbitration.

They also claimed that the government was not listening to their views and proposals, and accused some ministers of bringing written comments to parliamentarians’ interventions and simply reading them without engaging in meaningful dialogue.