By Victoria Hasson, WFD's Senior Parliamentary Adviser Around the world parliaments are going virtual. But what this looks like, and its implications for the institution’s democratic standing, varies as widely as the impact of COVID-19 on any given country. The dangers of going digital are easy to anticipate and beginning to surface. What is clear [...]
The Government of Nepal has invoked the Infectious Disease Act 1964 to battle coronavirus, including through enforcing quarantine. The Legislation Management Committee of the National Assembly has announced that it will conduct post-legislative scrutiny of the 57-year old law as part of its role to scrutinise government.
By Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the UK House of Commons and Patron of Westminster Foundation for Democracy
How parliaments can uphold accountability for emergency powers granted to the executive
Parliaments and parliamentarians can monitor and manage global state efforts through sharing lessons of effective national legislative action. Parliaments and parliamentarians across the world can also support each other as they develop new working practices to support citizens
The emerging new public debt crisis in times of the pandemic needs urgent engagement by parliamentarians.
The COVID-19 pandemic is profoundly affecting work and businesses across the world, notwithstanding its health effects. Planned activities are delayed or cancelled, and meetings are complicated, whilst digital technology is now facilitating communication between co-workers and helping institutions to reach out to their audiences. Parliaments are among the institutions that cannot postpone their work and commitments. They play a crucial role [...]
Pandemics force humans to break with the past and imagine their worlds anew. Parliaments now need to break with the past to find new ways to legitimately support their citizens in a COVID and post-COVID world.
Those interested in democracy and good governance should be alive to both the risks and the opportunities posed by the coronavirus pandemic – their voices could make the difference between setback and progress.
This guide is an introduction to independent oversight institutions and their relationship with parliament. It addresses institutions’ mandates, leadership, reporting, and budgeting, from the perspective of parliaments with their role to establish, oversee, and collaborate with independent institutions in order to strengthen democratic governance
