How common are visits to see your country’s parliament at work?

[u/EvilPyro01]

How often do people go to see your country’s legislature in action?

[u/Winkington]

Politicians in the Netherlands are quite accessible, as journalists often ask them questions in the hallways of the parliament and people approach them outside.

But I doubt many people can be bothered to go to parliament except on a school trip if your school is in the area. Or as a form of protest.

It's probably more likely that a politician comes to you instead. I have seen them in university answering questions, on the street handing out flyers and at work asking questions about the work and what I would change at work. The Queen also once visited the street I lived in for some opening.

[u/NeverSawOz → u/Winkington]

Plus, we've got online livestreams for de Tweede Kamer.

[u/gennan → u/Winkington]

And former PM Rutte would regularly drink a cup of coffee on his favourite terrace during his lunch break, which he probably reached by bike. If you wanted you could probably sit at his table to chat a bit. Also he was still teaching history in a regular local middle school. So he was quite accessible too.

[u/Ok-World-4822 → u/Winkington]

But I doubt many people can be bothered to go to parliament except on a school trip if your school is in the area. Or as a form of protest.

Not really, last Wednesday there was an article about a lot of people visiting the parliament to see a particular debate about NSC quitting. I remember seeing a video of people that were victims of the “toeslagenaffaire” also visiting the parliament to hear what the politicians are saying

[u/CreepyOctopus → u/Ok-World-4822]

It probably helps the Netherlands is so tightly packed that most of the population is within a ten minute walk of the parliament!

[u/Ok-World-4822 → u/CreepyOctopus]

I doubt that. Only 40% of the population live in the “Randstad” aka Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague, which is farther away than a ten minute walk if you’re not from The Hague itself.

[u/Cixila]

I don't think it's that common, but it is open. You pretty much just walk up to parliament and go through a security check, and that's it. There's also a TV channel that broadcasts debates (both live and reruns)

[u/ChallahTornado]

It depends what you mean.
Anyone can visit the Reichstag and sit down in the gallery.

Is it common among Germans? No. Most Germany do not even live near Berlin.

[u/Nirocalden → u/ChallahTornado]

Is it common among Germans?

Not on a daily basis maybe, but the Reichstag (the parliament building) has 3 million visitors a year, which apparently makes it the most visited parliament in the world.
Not everyone gets to sit down and watch a debate since there's limited space and not a session every day, but it's still quite popular

[u/milly_nz]

U.K.: you can wander (fairly) freely around the Commons (lower house) and House of Lords (upper house) on a tour during parliamentary holidays. Gets a lot of tourists.

But yes during parliamentary sessions you can rock up on the day to get into the public gallery to watch sessions. There’s always a queue to get in but for the most part they’re pretty tedious. There’s a section in the gallery for journalists. If you’re really bored you can watch the livestream.

Same in NZ (but it only has a lower house).

[u/TarcFalastur]

I think it's common enough. I'm not sure if it happens now still but it at least used to be standard for many decades (and I've seen talk of it on the internet from as recent as 10 years ago) for your MP to send you a birthday card on your 18th birthday which invited you to book a tour of Parliament, and in my final year of school my school also arranged a trip for any students who were interested too.

Edit: just realised that this isn't exactly "seeing your Parliament at work" as you don't watch them in session on the tours. Guess I'll leave this up anyway though.

[u/Realistic_Trust1647]

In my country, it’s not super common. Most people only visit the parliament for school trips or special events. Some citizens who are very politically active or work in government-related jobs might go more often, but for the average person, seeing the legislature in action is pretty rare

[u/CreepyOctopus]

The Riksdag, Sweden's parliament, is open to the public during plenary sessions and committee debates. You walk up to the entrance, go through a security checkpoint and that's it.

I'm pretty sure it's not common for people to visit. Students within politics, law and related fields might do at some point if they're in Stockholm, or otherwise if you're really into politics. Parliamentary sessions are generally considered to be very tedious.

[u/swisseagle71]

It is quite common to visit the sessions. There is also a life stream.

The more interesting talks in the smaller groups (Kommissionen) are closed to the public. But the votes are done in the public sessions.

[u/GoonerBoomer69]

The doors are open, you can just go there.

However i imagine it’s not particularly popular, as parliamentary proceedings are extremely boring.

[u/the_pianist91]

Going there on school trips particularly in high school is common, depending on where you’re from of course. There are special guided tours that can be booked finding place in it’s own educational premises and touring some of the Parliament building given its clear. It’s not common for general members of the public to go there. If they do they’re normally just sitting on the gallery of the chamber (Storting).