Afghanistan

On 26 July 2003, the Chairman of the Transitional Administration ordered the formation of a joint Afghan-United Nations Commission to coordinate and supervise the general elections scheduled for October 2004. This Joint Electoral Coordination Office is comprised of 10 members, five of whom will be members of the Afghan Interim Election Commission, which includes the head of the electoral section of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The remaining five members will be recommended by the UN Special Envoy, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, to the Joint Electoral Coordination Office.

Australia

The Standing Orders of the Senate were amended on 13 and 14 May 2003, following recommendations made by the Senate Procedure Committee. The first amendment extends meeting time on Tuesday to give more time for business, particularly government business. The second amendment relates to senators breastfeeding an infant. Before the amendment no person other than a senator, a clerk at the table or an officer attending on the Senate was allowed to enter the part of the chamber reserved for senators while the Senate was sitting. The amendment allows a senator breastfeeding an infant to bring that infant into the chamber. Another amendment establishes that the deadline for receipt of bills does not apply when a bill comes to the Senate for a second time, while the last one relates to restrictions on meetings of committees during sittings of the Senate, which do not apply after the question for the adjournment of the Senate has been proposed by the President at the time provided on any day. The Senate also agreed to the Committee's recommendation that the budget speech not be read in the Senate.
On 6 February 2003, the House of Representatives agreed to change the Standing Orders relating to sittings of the House. As of 10 February 2003, the House shall meet for the despatch of business on each Monday, at 12.30 p.m.; Tuesday, at 2 p.m.; Wednesday, at 9 a.m. and Thursday, at 9 a.m. From the termination of the last sitting in the second week of sittings, the House shall stand adjourned until 12.30 p.m. on the third Monday after the termination, unless the Speaker shall, by writing addressed to each Member of the House, fix an alternative day or hour of meeting. As a result of this change, the rules relating to quorums and new business were also amended: on sitting Mondays and Tuesdays, if any Member draws the attention of the Speaker to the state of the House between the hours of 6.30 p.m. and 8 p.m., the Speaker shall announce that he or she will count the House at 8 p.m., if the Member so desires and it is now established that no new business may be taken after 9.30 p.m., unless the House otherwise orders.

Barbados

Standing Order N° 14 of the House of the Assembly was amended to introduce a ten-minute limit that a Member can use to propose to move the adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific matter of urgent public importance. Before the amendment, no limit was specified.

Belgium

Between 20 February and 13 March 2003, three amendments were made to the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives. The first set up a special commission in charge of monitoring the arms trade. The second introduced technical changes to adapt the Standing Orders to recent amendments to the Electoral Law (see The World of Parliament , Issue No. 9, April 2003), to correct various errors or to dispel possible misunderstandings with regard to interpretation; it further provides that the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives shall henceforth be published in the Belgian Gazette. The last amendment is aimed at encouraging a more dynamic legislative response to reports by the Petitions Committee on the recommendations of the College of Federal Arbitrators and to the petitions it has examined; it also makes provision for the appointment of a 'europromoter' within each standing committee. The Standing Orders of the House have been completely harmonised, as a result of which the House now has a modern, well-structured set of rules that are fully up to date and numbered sequentially. On 17 July 2003, Articles 21 and 86 of the Standing Orders of the Senate were amended to increase the number of committee members from 15 to 17.
As far as electoral law is concerned, the reform adopted in December 2002 was published in the Belgian Gazette in January 2003, leading to several appeals being lodged with the Arbitration Court. On 26 February 2003, the Court suspended several provisions of the reform, which meant that for some electoral districts, the legislative elections held on 18 March 2003 were governed by the provisions applicable prior to the reform. On 26 May 2003, the Arbitration Court cancelled numerous provisions of the reform, in particular the possibility for candidates to run simultaneously for both the House and the Senate. However, as the ruling was handed down after the legislative elections, the Court decided to continue to apply some of the cancelled provisions, as authorised by the law. A law adopted on 11 March 2003 stipulates that the principles applicable to legislative elections and described in the previous issue (see The World of Parliaments, Issue No. 9, April 2003) shall also apply to elections to the European Parliament.

Canada

On 19 June 2003, an Act to amend the Elections Act and the Income Tax Act (Political Financing) received Royal Assent. This bill represents the most significant reform to Canada's electoral and campaign finance laws since the 1974 Election Expenses Act established a regime for the financing of federal elections in Canada. The new act has several general components or themes:

• a ban (with minor exceptions) on political donations by corporations and unions;
• a limitation on individual contributions;
• the registration of constituency associations, with reporting requirements;
• the extension of regulation to nomination and leadership campaigns, until now outside the ambit of the Canada Elections Act; and
• enhanced public financing of the political system, particularly at the level of political parties.

France

On 30 July 2003, a law modifying the term of office for Senators was adopted. The new law shortens the senatorial term from nine years to six, while one half of the Senate will be renewed every three years as of the partial elections in 2010. Also as of these elections, the number of senators representing French citizens living abroad will be reduced from the current 12 to six. The law further reduces the minimum eligibility age for senators from 35 years to 30 years and increases the total number of senators from 321 to 346.

Hungary

On 3 March 2003, the National Assembly adopted an amendment of the Act on the electoral proceedings. The change extended the opening hours of the polls until 9 p.m. when the legally binding referendum on Hungary's accession to the European Union took place on 12 April 2003. Before the amendment, voting was possible until 7 p.m.

Italy

On 18 June 2003, the Chamber of Deputies passed a bill granting immunity while in office to the five most senior State officials: the President of the Republic, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, the Prime Minister and the President of the Constitutional Court. The bill had previously been approved by the Senate on 4 June 2003. This law was criticised by the judiciary as violating the principle that all citizens are equal before the law.

Japan

On 9 April and 16 June 2003, partial amendments to the Rules of the House of Councillors came into effect. The first partial amendment makes adjustments to the jurisdiction of the Standing Committees. Some provisions have been amended so that the Committee on the Economy and Industry can continue to deal with matters under the jurisdiction of the Fair Trade Commission, even though the Commission's status was changed from an extra-ministerial bureau affiliated with the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications to an agency under the Cabinet Office. The second amendment relates to walking sticks in the Chamber or Committee meeting rooms. Whereas before the amendment, the permission of the President was needed for a parliamentarian or another attendee who wished to bring a walking stick, notification of intention shall henceforth suffice.

Rwanda

On 7 July 2003, an organic law relating to presidential and legislative elections was promulgated. This instrument aims to provide information concerning MPs on, among other things the submission of candidatures, the election of members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, election campaigns and the organisation of elections. As stipulated in the new Constitution, promulgated on 4 June 2003, the Transitional National Assembly was dissolved on 22 August 2003 in anticipation of the legislative elections scheduled to take place from 29 September to 2 October 2003.

Tunisia

On 13 May 2003, Constitutional Law No. 34 – 2003 on exceptions to Article 40, para 3 was promulgated. This law takes the form of a single article which provides as follows: "Should it fail to meet the conditions for submission of a candidate set out in Article 40, para 3 of the Constitution, each political party may, on an exceptional basis, present for the 2004 presidential elections, the candidature of one of the members of its executive governing body, provided that, when the candidature is submitted, the person concerned has held this post for at least five consecutive years and that the party already has one or more MPs in the Chamber. The deputy shall be deemed to belong to the party of which he or she was a member when the candidature to the legislative elections was submitted". Article 40 of the Constitution sets out the conditions to stand for election as President of the Republic, in particular the requirement of sponsorship by 30 elected officials (deputies or mayors). The opposition has 33 deputies and is therefore able to put forward a candidate under Article 40 of the Constitution. This means that with the new law, each of the five opposition parties will be able to field a candidate.
Moreover, on 8 August 2003, an Organic Law amending and supplementing the Electoral Code was adopted. The reform introduces a system of ongoing revision of electoral lists so as to ensure that voters stay registered, and stipulates that a judge shall chair the revision committee. It also sets out ample deadlines for the distribution of electoral cards and extends the amount of time available to the committee empowered to rule in voters' petitions. The law relaxes the conditions for the accreditation of observers and reduces the number of polling booths so as to ensure that party observers are able to cover all booths. In addition, the text specifically prohibits voting by proxy and stipulates that ballot boxes must be opened in the presence of observers before vote-counting begins.

Zambia

The National Assembly introduced some amendments to its Committee system. As of the reform, Committees are aligned with Government Ministries to enhance policy development and scrutiny; Committee meetings are open to the public for public participation. Bills, after the first reading stage, may be referred to an appropriate Departmental Committee, Select Committee or Ad Hoc Committee for detailed study. The Committee is required to invite submissions from the public and call for reports from Government departments most closely concerned with it. Once the appropriate Committee has completed its consideration of the bill, it will decide what, if any, amendments it wishes to recommend to the bill and reports to the House accordingly. This report is published for the information of Members and the public and then debated. Members also have the opportunity to move amendments to the bill before its third reading. Prior to the reform, bills passed from first reading to second reading and thereafter to the Committee.