Speaker of House of Representatives Presents Communication Strategy

Speaker of the House of Representatives Habib El Malki chaired Tuesday, January 7th, at the Headquarters of the House, a meeting devoted to launching the new online portal of the House. El Malki, with the presence of members of the House’s Board and media representatives, also went through the principal elements of the communication strategy adopted by the House.

In his speech on this occasion, El Malki noted that the launch of the new portal of the House of Representatives is part of the House’s communication strategy, which is one of the axes of the strategic plan of the activities of the House during the ongoing legislature. He added that the House of Representatives is keen to exercise all the powers conferred to it by the constitution and consolidate faith in this legislative institution willing to be closer to citizens.

The Speaker also highlighted that communication and information are not merely technical, but construct a mechanism of institutionally modernizing the structures of State and society. “It is, hence, a fundamental and strategic part of our national political and parliamentary job,” said El Malki.

He also underlined that communication within the House of Representatives is an expression of the will to involve civil society, media, and citizens in the action of legislation and control, as “it is not of interest only to the deputies, but to the whole society.”

Also, the Speaker went through the main elements of the said communication strategy. In this respect, he said, “we have a comprehensive and multidimensional vision that, in addition to the Parliamentary channel, includes valorizing the House’s library, preserving its memory and opening a museum of the House, consolidating relations with media and outreach to society, especially children and youth, organizing open-house days, and other axes of the said strategy.

The new portal of the House reflects the institution’s will to open up to society and promote communication between citizens and their representatives inside the legislative institution and guarantee the right to access parliamentary information.

This project aims at complying with the provisions of the House’s Rules of Procedure, which entail the publication of a certain number of data and information on the House’s website, such as the Government’s commitments and responses, responses to written questions, deputies’ questions, legislative motions, summaries of reports on themes and matters dealt with by the standing committees, etc.

The project also intends to facilitate communication between the House of Representatives and citizens through the interactive services like the possibility of commenting on draft bills and law proposals being reviewed, remote services like requesting a visit to the House or its library, media accreditation requests, internship requests, and other interactive services.

Visitors to the portal of the House of Representatives can perform virtual visits to the premises of the House, easily identify their Representatives through the interactive map and contact them,and  submit legislative motions and petitions to the Speaker of the House through the link of the National Platform for Participative Democracy.

The new portal also includes a child-friendly space that comprises videos, games, and documents that present the role and functions of the Institution in a way that would interest the category. Spaces for youth and women were also added; they include law texts and questions of interest to both categories.

Besides, the new portal factors simplification of navigation and easiness in access to information, in addition to valorizing the services provided by the old version, such as the live streaming of plenary sessions, the audio-visual archives to which are attached the sessions’ reports, and the possibility to explore and download the House’s documents.

Among the additional services of the new portal, we find the creation of a space for each parliamentary displaying their activities, questions, Government responses to those, and video-recordings of their interventions during plenary sessions.

This is also the case for parliamentary groups who, in turn, have an exclusive webpage for each of them that displays their questions, law proposals, and news.

Standing committees were also granted a webpage that displays the members of each committee, the law texts being studied, reports, fact-finding missions, and the other activities of the committee.

The new portal also includes a space for each body of the House, including standing committees, the Board of the House, the Speaker’s office, thematic working groups, and the petitions committee.

Also, a page within the new portal called “Your right to know” has been created to end rumors and misinformation posted on some websites and social media about the House of Representatives.

It should be noted that the new version of the portal of the House is available in five languages, namely Arabic, Amazigh, French, English, and Spanish.