11.7 Parliamentary Control Over Executive

The confidence axis (Article 100): the PM may seek confidence; must do so within 30 days on party fragmentation or coalition withdrawal; the no-confidence motion — one-quarter of members in writing, naming the alternative PM; barred in the PM's first two years and for one year after a failure; passes by majority of the total House → the named member becomes PM; Questions, debates, motions: question hour, zero hour, adjournment and special motions (the Rules of Procedure's machinery); the President's addresses (Article 95); ministries' and constitutional bodies' annual reports as answer-documents; Committee scrutiny (Article 97): departmental oversight — the Public Accounts Committee's audit-chasing; the hearing committees' vetting; Budgetary control: the estimates-and-appropriation cycle as the executive's annual leash (119–120); supplementary estimates' transparency (121); The ultimate sanctions: no-confidence (100), impeachment of principals (101), refusal of legislation — and dissolution as the executive's counter-sanction (76(7)): the parliamentary state's constitutional physics. Exam Focus Long questions: "Explain the composition of the Federal Parliament with the electoral system's inclusion guarantees." / "Describe the functions of Parliament and the machinery of parliamentary control over the executive." / "Explain the privileges and immunities of Parliament." / "How may the House of Representatives be dissolved? Compare the 2015 rule with earlier practice." Short questions: the composition numbers (275 = 165+110; 59 = 56+3; 6-year/one- third stagger); ages 25/35; the…