In a significant step towards modernising civic engagement, the Parliament has officially passed an amendment to its Rules of Procedure, paving the way for the submission of online petitions.
The landmark change to the parliamentary rules was approved by a substantial majority of 57 lawmakers, with nine voting against during the Parliament sitting on Sunday.
This amendment introduces a dual system for petitioning the Parliament, allowing for both traditional paper petitions and a new category of electronic petitions, or e-petitions. While paper petitions will continue to be submitted to the Parliament Secretariat, e-petitions will be lodged through a dedicated online portal, scheduled for launch on February 8 of the coming year. The amendment will take effect from this date.
To ensure the integrity and efficacy of the petition process, the new rules outline specific requirements for submission. Petitions must be presented with appropriate grammar and adhere to parliamentary language etiquette. For paper petitions exceeding a single page, each page must be signed by the petitioner. Critically, all petitions, whether paper or electronic, will require a minimum of 500 signatures to be formally accepted. Any petition failing to meet these stipulated conditions will not be considered by Parliament.