The 14th Saeima refuses to improve its internal procedures – because deputies have basically refused to replace outdated norms in the parliament’s Rules of Order. This much is outlined in the press release by director of Society for Openness – Delna Inese Tauriņa.
One of this non-government organisation’s main complaints is the Saeima deputies’ refusal to drop their right to abstain in votes. Additionally, changes submitted to to the legislator were undermined in this specific way. At the 16th February plenary meeting 45 deputies voted in favour, no one voted against and 49 – abstained in the vote. This resulted in the Saeima dropping the legislative draft Amendments to the Saeima Rules of Order.
This indicates to Delna that deputies are not prepared to review the outdated Saeima Rules of Order. On top of that, Tauriņa stresses that with this the Saeima has refused to implement a number of recommendations suggested by the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), including the review of Saeima’s Code of Ethics.
Delna researcher Olafs Grigus explains: «It is an opportunity to improve the traceability of the legislative process, standardising requirements for publication of minutes of committees and put an end to deputies abstaining in votes.
No one provided any explanation for their vote at the plenary meeting.
Deputies are also prepared to continue using formal procedures to limit transparency and not provide explanations in regards to the decisions they make.»
Delna believes there aren’t justified arguments as to why Saeima’s rules of order couldn’t be amended. Amendments did not include any politically-heavy topics: public review of the Saeima’s budget or expansion of authority of the Mandates, Ethics and Submissions Committee.
Delna is sad that so many deputies from New Unity, National Alliance and Combined List Saeima factions
have demonstrated such cowardice in the first months of their term
and slow the introduction of transparency of the legislator and good management principles.
The organisation reminds: although Latvia’s average Corruption Perception Index score is 59 of 1000, in terms of honesty of the political apparatus it is only 49 out of 100. This is the lowest index in all of Europe. «Such behaviour from Saeima deputies is one of the factors that undermine political honesty,» Tauriņa condemns the legislator.
Also read: Latvia fails to improve its position on the Corruption Perception Index