Absenteeism is apparently a major problem in Russia’s Parliament: A recent report on a Russian news channel highlights just how many Russian MPs regularly take the day off rather than coming into the dreary old Parliament to cast their votes.
In the video below, just 88 MPs out of 450 show up to vote on a bill that bans drinking while behind the wheel of a car (somehow, not a Russian law already). Rather than just have 88 votes, what we see is the amusing yet alarming spectacle of the MPs present literally running around the room and casting votes for their compatriots — an average of almost five votes cast per member.
In the end, the vote passed unanimously, 449-to-0 with one mysterious abstention.
Redditor BreathingManually translates the beleaguered parliamentarians’ side of the story: They have to cast a ton of votes each day, which leads to bad laws, which leads to new votes to amend the bad laws.
Guy is pissed that they have to vote too quickly (30 something votes a day), and that they mostly vote to correct laws that were poorly thought out in the first place because of the fast voting. He suggests lowering the number of voting to 5 – 7 a day, and instead concentrate on discussing all sides of the issue and listening to all the arguments instead of rushing to vote without any discussion at all.
Video below in Russian, but the juicy bits begin at the 40-second mark.
(Habrahabr.ru via Reddit. translation via BreathingManually.)
Published: May 26, 2010 02:18 pm