Article 86 of the constitution stipulates: “The parliament shall be assigned the legislative power and shall approve the general government policy, the general economic and social development plan, and the general fiscal plan. The parliament shall also supervise the executive power’s work, and all this shall be carried out in the manner stated in the constitution”.

It is evident from the above text that the parliament’s jurisdiction consists in two main functions: legislation and supervision. In this regard, it is important to discuss the government’s and parliament’s roles in the legislative process. Legislation, at least historically speaking, represents the parliament’s main function. This is why the function attached its name to the parliament, which came to be called the legislative power. Yet the parliament’s monopoly of this function has not been possible, and the executive power’s role in the legislative field gradually grew and took several forms. In addition to the executive power’s right to issue by-laws of different types—and these are laws substantively speaking—it has the right to propose laws, and these laws can be promulgated by the government’s president.

The parliament’s role in legislation emerges from reviewing the stages of proposing, preparing, writing, and approving laws as follows:

The process of proposing laws constitutes the first phase of legislative work. Proposing laws is a fixed right of the parliament even though the constitution does not state it in clear terms as did the 1958 constitution.

Article 109 of the current constitution stipulates: “The President of the Republic and every parliament member have the right to propose laws.”

If law proposals are made by the President of the Republic, they are called “draft laws”. If they are made by parliament members, they are called “draft law proposals”.

The reason for terming the first “draft laws” is that the government usually presents examined proposals to the parliament in the form of draft laws submitted for discussion and voting. The constitution distinguished between the two while disregarding the varying terms designating them. The constitution stipulates in Article 110: “Any draft law shall be referred to one of the parliament’s committees so that it can examine it, study it, and submit a report on it”. However, with regards to draft laws presented by parliament members, they are not referred to the committee except after being examined by a special committee in charge of evaluating the adequacy of presenting them to the parliament and after the parliament so determines. The parliament’s by-laws assign this function to the Committee for Proposals and Complaints.

The rationale for referring draft law proposals presented by parliament members to the Committee for Proposals and Complaints (and not referring to the same committee the draft laws submitted by the government) has its justifications; namely, that the executive power is that which enforces laws, influences societal needs, and realizes the difficulties and gaps resulting from law enforcement. The executive power also submits draft laws after examining them in all respects, which requires submitting them directly to the relevant parliamentary committee without the need for prior measures whose implementation would only delay draft laws examination and discussion.

The constitution prohibits reconsideration, in the same meeting, of draft law proposals that have been refused by the council. Article 111 of the constitution stipulates that every draft law proposed by a member and refused by the parliament cannot be proposed again during the same meeting. This prohibition does not apply to draft laws submitted by the President of the Republic; that is, those draft laws can be resubmitted in the same meeting at the government’s discretion.

A draft law submitted by the government or a draft law proposal submitted by a parliament member undergoes several legislative stages prior to being promulgated and published.

The draft laws proposed by the government are submitted to the parliament’s committees for examination leading to a report on each. As for draft law proposals submitted by parliament members, these are—as previously stated—referred to that committee only after being examined by a special committee (the Committee for Proposals and Complaints) to evaluate the adequacy of submitting them to parliament consideration.

Then comes the discussion phase in the parliament’s session. The convening of the council is not effective unless the majority attends. The “open discussion” principle is one of the prevailing principles in the world’s modern constitutions.

The parliament discusses draft laws in one deliberation. The deliberation begins with a discussion of the rationales and general foundations of the draft law as a whole. If the parliament does not approve the draft law in principle, this is considered a rejection of it. On the other hand, following approval of the draft law in principle, the council proceeds to a one-by-one discussion of its Articles on the presentation of each. A vote is conducted on every Article, then on the draft law as a whole. No conclusive vote may be conducted on the draft law prior to a second reading and final vote on it in the same meeting in which it is approved—on condition that at least one hour separates the parliament’s examination of it, if the parliament majority does not otherwise judge the draft law.

The law decrees that the second reading of the draft law occur in a following meeting after four days of the first reading. In this case, it is possible to propose to the government, or to a minimum of 20 members, amendments in the text of the draft law. If this situation arises, the parliament can make its decision regarding these amendments prior to conducting the final vote on the draft law.

The parliament makes its decisions based on absolute majority of attending members, and this does not apply to cases in which a particular majority is required. In the case of a tie in the number of votes, the topic which has been discussion is considered rejected. Examples of cases requiring a particular majority is that of voting on a draft law previously objected to by the President of the Republic (Article 113 of the constitution) or law enforcement with a negative effect (Article 187 of the constitution).

Following final parliament approval of the draft law, it is submitted to the President of the Republic for being promulgated since Article 112 stipulates:

“The right to promulgate laws or object to them resides with the President of the Republic.”

If the President of the Republic objects to a draft law approved by the parliament, the draft law should be referred back to the parliament within 30 days from the date of being sent to him by the parliament. If it is not returned within 30 days, it is considered a law and promulgated.

The President of the Republic has the right to issue decrees that have the force of law if events in the parliament require quick of adoption of measures that cannot withstand delay, or based on the council’s delegation of that and with the approval of at least two-thirds of its members.

Decree laws issued in the parliament’s absence should be presented within 15 days from the date of their issuing if the parliament is in session or in its first meeting if it has been dismissed or if its meetings have been discontinued.

As for decrees that are issued based on legislative delegation, these must be presented before the parliament in its first session after the end of the delegation period.

If the decretal laws issued in the parliament’s absence or based on legislative delegation are not presented before the parliament in the designated period, or if they are presented and rejected by the parliament, they forfeit their status as laws.

However, regarding decretal laws issued in the parliament’s absence, the parliament may accredit their enforcement in a previous stage or may otherwise amend them based on their effects.

No proposals may be made for amending the texts of any decretal laws. Amendment proposals submitted by members are considered draft law proposals to which apply the measures specified by the parliament’s by-laws, as is the case with draft law proposals.

The special measures regarding the discussion of draft laws apply to decretal laws.

Ratifying treaties is the privilege of the President of the Republic, pending the parliament’s approval of peace, alliance, trade, and navigation treaties and all treaties requiring alteration of government land or those related to national sovereignty or requiring Treasury expenses mentioned in the fiscal plan. Parliament members, however, do not have the right to propose amendments to these treaties’ texts.

The president should notify the parliament of these agreements and special reports in the next upcoming session.

As for other treaties and agreements, the Prime Minister submits them to the Speaker of Parliament to inform the parliament of them in the first upcoming session, after which they are filed in the parliament’s bureau.