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This question introduced me to an interesting legislative behavior called pairing. In some legislatures, when a member of one party is unable to vote the opposing party may decide to ask one of their members not to vote also.

The linked question is about the UK. But I wonder, how common is pairing across legislatures around the world? That is, in how many national legislatures does pairing occur?

indigochild
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  • You can find some of it for Australia by searching Pairing Agreements on the Parliament of Australia website. I am sure there is a better phrase to narrow it down. Also the wikipedia page on parliamentary pairing mentions Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, and United States with alternative forms in New Zealand. – user_42 Jul 19 '18 at 19:22
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    This relevant recent question shows that it happens very rarely in the US House of Representatives. Are you only looking for legislatures where pairing is relatively common like the UK, or legislatures that simply allow pairing(even if it is completely unofficial)? – Giter Jul 19 '18 at 19:25
  • @Giter Only in places where it is in practice. – indigochild Jul 19 '18 at 19:31
  • @Giter How could a legislature disallow unofficial pairing, unless you force representitives to vote? – DJClayworth Jul 19 '18 at 22:06
  • @DJClayworth: I don't know of any actual examples, but it would definitely have to be a forced thing: making them cast a vote if they don't have a legitimate reason not to abstain, having them abstain from all votes on a given day if they abstain from one, etc. – Giter Jul 20 '18 at 00:17
  • I know sweden does practice the same thing – lijat Jul 20 '18 at 08:55
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    "In some legislatures, when a member of one party is unable to vote the opposing party may decide to ask one of their members not to vote also." This obviously only works in bipartisan systems. Most democracies have multi-party systems. – Roland Jul 20 '18 at 11:09
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    @Roland I had that thought also, but I imagine it could be extended to coalitions. Maybe an answer will tell us whether this actually happens or not. – indigochild Jul 20 '18 at 15:48
  • @indigochild Even if there is a government coalition, you often still have multiple and diverse parties in opposition. – Roland Jul 20 '18 at 17:44
  • @Roland In multi party systems, pairing is done on fraction/caucus or personal basis. – DonFusili Jul 24 '18 at 13:35
  • Murkowski paired with Daines in the Kavanaugh vote (US Senate). Not answering as that's an example rather than a statistical analysis. – Brythan Oct 12 '18 at 22:13

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In Denmark it is set 100% into system as a practical measure to allow politicians for participating in other events throughout the day.

They are called clearing agreements, and here is a link to a danish wiki that hopefully gets translated for you if you don't read danish

https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearingaftale

Thomas Koelle
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In Belgium Pairing is mentioned in the rules for the House of representatives. It's allowed, but stipulated that they should be disclosed before the start of a vote (absent reps are expected to have a good explanation for being absent, abstaining reps are expected to have an explanation for abstaining).

It is explicitly mentioned in the same rules that a disclosed Pair is never subject to debate.

Pairing is not mentioned explicitly in the rules for the Belgian Senate, however, they're also commonplace there (this can be seen in one of the records).

Jasper
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DonFusili
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It's very common in Israel.

There was a recent scandal when opposition members refused to pair with a coalition member whose wife had died.

James K
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ugoren
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I can’t remember specific cases, but I think something like this happens in state legislatures in the USA.

The closest thing to pairing here is lawmakers from both sides of the aisle collaborating on new laws like Sarbanes Oxley

Alen
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    Thanks, Alen. This question isn't specific to the United States, though an answer that focuses on how common pairing is in state legislatures could be interesting. However, I think this needs a more solid basis before it's a strong answer. – indigochild Jul 20 '18 at 15:48