From the torsion of the form of government to the verticalization of parliamentary decision-making: the conduct of chamber business in pandemic time and smart voting

Abstract

The paper analyses the issue of scheduling parliamentary activities in times of pandemic. Especially, it considers the first timid interventions and the related problems, which allowed limited participation in the Standing Committees through videoconference connections and then, on the occasion of the elections of the President of the Republic in January 2022, the decision to provide for the physical presence of more than a thousand voters. In conclusion, it underlines the importance, also because of the law 1/2020 on the reduction of the number of parliamentarians, of maintenance of the procedures to combine the practicability of the virtual presence with the full guarantee of parliamentary prerogatives governed by the Constitution.