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In almost all legislatures, collegial relationships are important. People often work together for years, and even when they stand in staunch opposition on important values, they can sympathize with each other as people.
The Progressive Alliance has a narrow majority this term. In previous years, such a situation has led to the ruthless necessity for every legislator to vote every time, no matter what might be happening in their lives. There has sometimes been some leeway, but it has been infrequent.
This term, one of our MCs appears as though they will not be able to vote through no fault of their own, and ordinarily this would lead to the abrupt end of this democratically-elected administration.
However, I approached the Opposition leadership at the Informal Session this week with a request: would they be willing to accommodate this situation on a human level, by "holding harmless" the absent MC's missing vote of confidence? To their great credit, and as a testament to the power of direct interaction outside of message-board posts, the URL has agreed to a "pairing." You can read their gracious statement here (https://wittenberg.talossa.com/index.php?topic=4926.msg40337#msg40337).
The recent campaign was a harsh one, and the debate between our parties continues to be sharply-phrased at times. But we hope that this will be the start of a new tradition that enables greater comity among our politically-active citizens and more stability in an era of slim majorities. If the chance arises for us to return the favor, it will be our honour to do so.