Elected representatives from the Oregon state legislature visited the Maldives this week to hold workshops and discussions with the country’s parliament.
State Senator Jackie Dingfelder and State Representative Ben Cannon, both US Democrats, met with the media on Wednesday afternoon to explain their trip to “share experience” of working across party political lines to legislate effectively.
“We’ve heard concerns about the need for a stronger and more independent judiciary, we’ve heard about the need for independent non-partisan staff for parliament, and we’re heard about the need for greater transparency, and a more robust civil society, NGOs, media, and schools,” said Cannon.
The pair said they were “particularly struck” by the Youth Parliament held yesterday at Bandos Island Resort and Spa, where 50 young people have been “engaging and learning what it means to engage issues peacefully in a parliamentary setting.”
“Our goal [in the Maldives] is to share our understanding that under the system of separation of powers that the Maldivian constitution presents, each branch of government has a responsibility to help govern the country, not merely to undermine other branches of government,” Cannon said.
Practically, Dingfelder explained that the two hoped to bring a combined 14 years of experience in legislature to a discussion “of what does it means to work across party lines.’
“We are also talking [with MPs] about implementing and monitoring legislation – both of us work in committees, we’ve worked to pass climate change legislation and been successful at getting through large bills in a bipartisan manner, and following up to make sure legislation is implemented.”
A focus of the discussions, Dingfelder said, would “also be relationship building.”
“We’ve heard that not a not of legislation has been getting through because of fighting – this happens all over the world, it happens in the States, and it certainly happens at a state level.”
One technique for passing bills through a heavily-partisan legislature, she explained, was “to find out what is important to the other legislator. Find out what they would like to see, and come to a compromise in the middle. I start by saying ‘What your end goal?’, instead of: ‘Here’s what I want to do’.”
It was important, she said, for an elected legislator “to be a good listener and hear the other point of view, because if you go in with a closed line saying ‘It’s my way or the highway’, then it makes it harder to reach a compromise.”
Often, she explained, the end goals of both sides were same, and the differences “just about how to get there.”
“Put the campaign aside during session”
Cannon observed that it was important for legislators “to be willing to put the campaign aside – at least for a time.”
“I run every two years, that’s a lot of campaigning,” he said. “But for those six months we are in session, it cannot be primarily about the next elections. You have to believe that your adversaries are also working to further the best interests of the country.”
That, he said, did not mean the campaign goal disappeared – “it doesn’t go away in a democracy, but at least for a time our responsibility is to govern effectively.”
He noted that democracy in the Maldives was old two years old, “and it takes time to build the habits and institutions of effective governance. In the US it has taken us 230 years and we’re still at it. We have not perfected it.”
Many of the challenges facing legislators in the Maldives were the same as those still faced in the US, Cannon noted.
“Each point raised you can say about our own system. [Democracy] is a messy and conflict-ridden process, but we are hopeful that the people of the Maldives will give this experiment the time it needs to prove it is better than the alternatives.”
(0)Dislikes
(0)