Three Legislative Council Metrics Hit Zero, Reflecting Changed Chamber Landscape as Lawmakers’ Amendments Plummet
立法會三組數據「歸零」折射議會生態 議員修訂銳減
As the term of the Seventh Legislative Council nears its end, this newspaper published a series of interviews with lawmakers last week. All praised the current legislature for returning to the right track and for positive executive-legislative interaction. Tik Chi-yuen of Third Side, who has announced that he will not seek re-election, also said it was better suited to the current legislative landscape. A comparison of data from the Legislative Council before and after the electoral system was improved shows that the current legislature has become markedly more efficient in scrutinising bills and more orderly: the numbers of quorum bell counts, adjourned meetings and occasions on which the president ordered lawmakers to leave have all fallen to zero. Because the Sixth Legislative Council’s term was extended by one year after the 2020 election was postponed, while the Seventh Legislative Council still has one plenary meeting to hold, the two terms are based on different lengths of time, which should be noted when comparing the efficiency of bill scrutiny. The previous legislature went through the oath-taking controversy, legislation on the co-location arrangement and the anti-extradition bill events. Filibustering and physical clashes by the opposition were frequent, with the main battlegrounds being plenary meetings and the Finance Committee.
第七屆立法會會期進入尾聲，本報上周刊出議員訪談系列，各人齊聲稱讚本屆議會重回正軌，行政立法良性互動，連已宣布棄選的新思維狄志遠亦自言，較適合現今議會生態。從數據對比完善選制前後的立法會，本屆立法會明顯審議效率提升、秩序井然，響鐘點算法定人數、流會、主席趕議員離場次數全部「歸零」。 第六屆立法會由於2020年換屆選舉延期，任期延長一年，而第七屆尚有一次大會未進行，因此兩者任期基數不一，比對審議法案效率時要留意。上屆議會經歷宣誓風波、「一地兩檢」立法、反修例事件等，反對派拉布及肢體衝突不斷，主戰場是大會及財委會。