Political Privacy - in Legislatures

In Legislatures

Ballot secrecy however is not typically part of legislative procedure, as in a representative democracy the votes of each legislator are supposed to be literally 'representative' of constituents' views and political party positions - if these are in conflict then that too must be observed by the voters and parties. Representative recall measures further discipline this by permitting voters to 'fire' their representative during a legislative session. Chairs of committees in a legislature may be determined by open vote or by secret ballot, if there are concerns that retribution may apply to a legislator from some particularly powerful central figure advocating a specific candidate:

In Canada in 2002 the ruling Liberal Party of Canada under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien opposed a successful measure by Paul Martin Jr., also a Liberal and widely regarded as Chrétien's rival or successor, to require Canadian House of Commons committees to choose chairs by secret ballot. The public debate centered on the issue of whether representatives must do public business in public, or whether the Prime Minister's Office was overtly directing that business to a degree unintended by the Canadian Constitution or traditions in a parliamentary democracy. Martin's faction carried the day with support from opposition parties, and many breakaway Liberals who resented their relatively weak power related to that of their Leader - and thus wanted the power to select chairs that he did not approve of, without being clearly identified and thus subject to his retaliation.