Attendance at Parliamentary Sessions and The Quorum Rule

Abstract

Sec. 22 of the Knesset Regulations states as follows:Knesset Members must participate as frequently as possible in the plenary sessions of the Knesset and in the meetings of the committees of which they are members.There is, however, no formal sanction—statutory or in the regulations, for enforcing this rule. The lack of formal restrictions on the matter of compulsory attendance expresses itself not only in the absence of a statutory quorum, but in a positive fashion as well, in the rule embodied in sec. 24 of the Basic Law: The Knesset, whereby “The Knesset shall hold debates and pass decisions, whatever the numbers present“. Recently, this section was amended: on July 16, 1980, the Knesset approved the addition of the words, “if there is no contrary provision on this matter in another law” at the end of the section. The amendment was not designed to change the existing legal position, according to which a statutory quorum is not required, but only to open the symbolic door to a future change and to rectify the imprecisions in the law as it was formulated. In the body of the law in which we find exemptions from a compulsory quorum, there are three sections entrenched against amendment by a simple majority or an accidental majority, and they may only be amended by an absolute or special majority at the time of the vote.