Delna: number of Saeima deputies who do not abstain in votes is up
by LETA
In the past several months there has been a considerable increase in the number of Saeima deputies who clearly outline their opinions as either yes or no in votes, instead of abstaining, according to data compiled by Society for Openness – Delna (Delna).
As reported by vice-director of Delna Inese Tauriņa, a comparison of data from the latest 13 Saeima deputies’ votes shows that in approximately seven months’ time (1 October 2019 – 14 May 2020), 20 Saeima deputies have not abstained in votes a single time. In the previous 11 months’ time – between 6 November 2018 and 26 September 2019, only seven Saeima deputies did not abstain in votes.
20 Saeima deputies who did not abstain a single time in votes held in the aforementioned period of time, include New Conservative Party faction’s members Uldis Budriķis, Jānis Butāns, Jānis Cielēns, Gatis Eglītis, Krišjānis Feldmans, Juris Jurašs, Eva Mārtuža, Linda Ozola, Juris Rancāns, Sandis Riekstiņš, Evita Zālīte-Grosa, Reinis Znotiņš and Normunds Žunna, non-faction Saeima deputies Aldis Blumbergs, Aldis Gobzems, Artuss Kaimiņš, Linda Liepiņa and Jūlija Stepaņenko, as well as Aivars Geidāns from KPV LV and Inese Ikstena from Attīstībai/Par! party.
The total number of abstentions in Saeima votes has declined: a total of 44 abstentions in votes were made in the Saeima in a single meeting in the past seven months and an average of 47 in eleven months. This year there have been two Saeima meetings – 6 February and 13 March – during which none of the participating deputies had abstained in votes.
Delna has concluded that newcomers to the Saeima are the ones who use the abstention option in votes the least often. Non-faction deputies also rarely use this option in votes.
The leader with the biggest number of «abstention» votes is Harmony faction, followed by Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS), National Alliance All for Latvia – For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK (VL–TB/LNNK) and New Unity (JV) factions.
According to estimates from Delna, in the past seven months a single Harmony deputy has abstained an average of 41 times in votes, a single ZZS deputy has abstained an average of 22 times. A single VL–TB/LNNK faction deputy has abstained an average of 19 times in votes, and a single JV deputy has abstained an average of 13 times.
New Conservative Party’s faction is the absolute leader – 13 out of 16 of this faction’s deputies have not abstained in votes a single time. Members of this faction always vote either against or in favour, according to information from Delna.
The organization notes – although certain factions stand out with a large number of abstentions, not all faction members agree on use of votes.
Delna believes the current system is a political dead end. The organization urges 13th Saeima to support amendments to the Saeima Internal Order’s Part 1 of Section 139 so that only the deputies who vote in favour or against are considered as deputies who attended the vote. This would allow either approving all of Saeima’s decisions with either majority of votes in favour or rejecting them with votes against. This way it would be impossible to cheat with the misleading ‘abstained’ vote.