Parliamentary maturity

Political confrontation, especially when it is taking place in Parliament, is not hand-to-hand combat.

The “I’m not going anywhere” we heard on Wednesday in reaction to the ejection of two lawmakers from the special parliamentary committee investigating the handling of the Novartis case cannot be allowed to express a party that claims to be democratic.

The country’s institutions have endured much worse over the past few years. The main opposition party should by now know that it has to adapt to the rules of parliamentary order. In any case, the speaker of the House has the political and legal clout to make sure that it does so.