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The function retrieves details on Members of Parliament (MPs) in three categories:

  • speeches held in plenary sessions ("plenary"),

  • other relevant activities ("activities"), and

  • their participation in committees ("committees").

Depending on the requested details category, different function parameters are available. For an example of the data source on the website of the Austrian Parliament, see the different tabs e.g., here.

Usage

get_mps_details(
  pad_intern,
  detail_type,
  institution = NULL,
  legis_period = NULL,
  item = NULL,
  search_string = NULL,
  committee = NULL,
  committee_position = NULL,
  echo = TRUE
)

Arguments

pad_intern

ID of MP. Vector of length 1. See get_pad_intern() for more details.

detail_type

Character string specifying the type of details to retrieve: "plenary", "activities", or "committees". For examples see here: plenary ; activities; committees.

institution

Character string specifying the parliamentary house. Permissible inputs are "NR" (Nationalrat/National Council), "BR" (Bundesrat/Federal Council ) or NULL (which returns results for both houses). Defaults to NULL.

legis_period

Numeric or character vector specifying one or more legislative periods (optional). Accepts numeric values (e.g., 27 or c(26, 27)), Roman numerals (e.g., "XXVII"), or historical abbreviations. Must be >= 20 for valid periods. Defaults to NULL.

item

Character string specifying the item type (Art des Verhandlungsgegenstandes) (optional). Defaults to NULL. Used only for details category "activities". See Details below.

search_string

Character string for searching within activities (optional). Defaults to NULL. Currently only implemented for details category "activities".

committee

Character string specifying the committee name (optional). Only if detail_type == "committees". See Details section for valid committee names.

committee_position

Character string specifying the committee position (optional). Only if detail_type == "committees". Common values include "Mitglied", "Vorsitzende/r", "Stellvertretende/r Vorsitzende/r".

echo

Logical indicating whether to print the API request and response details. Defaults to TRUE.

Value

A data frame containing the requested MP details. The structure depends on the detail_type parameter:

For detail_type = "plenary": Returns all speeches of the person in the specified house, regardless of their mandate at the time of the speech. For example, querying all plenary activities of Doris Bures in the National Council will return not only her speeches as an MP, but also as President of the National Council and as Minister. Columns returned:

  • pad_intern: Unique identifier for the MP

  • name: Full name of the MP

  • position_name: List of mandates/positions held at the time of speech

  • date: Date of the speech

  • legis_period: Legislative period (Roman numeral)

  • institution: Chamber of Parliament: "NR" (National Council) or "BR" (Federal Council)

  • speech_title: Title of the speech

  • session_url: URL to the session details page

  • session_name: Name of the parliamentary session

  • speech_transcript_url: URL to the speech transcript

  • speech_media_url: URL to speech recordings, if available

For detail_type = "activities": Returns parliamentary activities and legislative items associated with the MP. Columns returned:

  • pad_intern: Unique identifier for the MP

  • legis_period: Legislative period

  • institution: Chamber of Parliament: "NR" (National Council) or "BR" (Federal Council)

  • frmdate: Date field

  • ityp_komm: Item type comment

  • item_number: Number of the parliamentary item

  • item_type: Type of parliamentary item (e.g., "A", "JMIN")

  • title: Title/subject of the item

  • date_updated: Last update date of the item

  • item_url: URL to the item details

  • status_text: Current status description

  • status_numeric: Numeric status code

For detail_type = "committees": Returns committee memberships and participation. Columns returned:

  • pad_intern: Unique identifier for the MP

  • name: Full name of the MP

  • legis_period: Legislative period

  • committee_name: Name of the committee

  • committee_position: Position in the committee (e.g., "Mitglied", "Vorsitzende/r")

  • institution: Chamber of Parliament: "NR" (National Council) or "BR" (Federal Council)

  • committee_position_start: Start date of committee membership

  • committee_position_end: End date of committee membership (NA if still active)

  • committee_active: Logical indicating if membership is currently active

  • committee_url: URL to committee details

Returns NULL invisibly if no data is found for the given parameters.

Details

Item type (Art des Verhandlungsgegenstandes)

Possible values for item are:

  • "A" (Gesetzesanträge, Legislative proposals)

  • "AA" (Abänderungsanträge, Amendment Motion)

  • "ABMIN" (Anfragebeantwortung durch die Bundesregierung, Responses by the Federal Government)

  • "ABMIN-BR" (Anfragebeantwortung durch die Bundesregierung im Bundesrat, Responses by the Federal Government in the Federal Council)

  • "ABPRPR" (Anfragebeantwortung durch den Präsidenten des Nationalrates, Responses by the President of the National Council)

  • "AE" (Selbständige Entschließungen, Independent Resolutions)

  • "ARH1" (Anträge gemäß $ 99 Abs. 1, Motions according to § 99 Abs. 1)

  • "JMIN" (Schriftliche Anfrage an die Bundesregierung, Written Questions to the Federal Government)

  • "JPRPR" (Schriftliche Anfrage an den Präsidenten des Nationalrates, Written Questions to the President of the National Council)

  • "M" (Mündliche Anfrage an die Bundesregierung, Oral Questions to the Federal Government)

  • "UEA" (Unselbständige Entschließungen, Dependent Resolution Motion)

  • "AVB" (Anträge auf Volksbefragung)

  • "JHR" (Schriftliche Anfrage an den RechnungshofpräsidentInnen, Written Questions to the President of the Court of Auditors)

  • "PET" (Petitionen, Petitions)

Committees

Possible values for committee are:

  • Ausschuss für Arbeit und Soziales

  • Ausschuss für Bauten und Wohnen

  • Ausschuss für Familie und Jugend

  • Ausschuss für Forschung, Innovation und Digitalisierung

  • Ausschuss für innere Angelegenheiten

  • Ausschuss für Konsumentenschutz

  • Ausschuss für Land- und Forstwirtschaft

  • Ausschuss für Menschenrechte

  • Ausschuss für Petitionen und Bürgerinitiativen

  • Ausschuss für Wirtschaft, Industrie und Energie

  • Außenpolitischer Ausschuss

  • Budgetausschuss

  • COFAG-Untersuchungsausschuss eingesetzt am 15.12.2023 - beendet am 03.07.2024

  • Finanzausschuss

  • Geschäftsordnungsausschuss

  • Gesundheitsausschuss

  • Gleichbehandlungsausschuss

  • Hauptausschuss

  • Untersuchungsauschuss: Ibiza-Untersuchungsausschuss

  • Immunitätsausschuss

  • Justizausschuss

  • Kulturausschuss

  • Landesverteidigungsausschuss

  • ÖVP-Korruptions-Untersuchungsausschuss eingesetzt am 09.12.2021 - beendet am 27.04.2023

  • Rechnungshofausschuss

  • "ROT-BLAUER Machtmissbrauch-Untersuchungsausschuss" eingesetzt am 15.12.2023 - beendet am 03.07.2024

  • Sportausschuss

  • Ständiger gemeinsamer Ausschuss im Sinne des § 9 des Finanz-Verfassungsgesetzes 1948

  • Ständiger Unterausschuss des Ausschusses für innere Angelegenheiten

  • Ständiger Unterausschuss des Budgetausschusses

  • Ständiger Unterausschuss des Hauptausschusses

  • Ständiger Unterausschuss des Landesverteidigungsausschusses

  • Ständiger Unterausschuss des Rechnungshofausschusses

  • Ständiger Unterausschuss in Angelegenheiten der Europäischen Union

  • Ständiger Unterausschuss in ESM-Angelegenheiten

  • Tourismusausschuss

  • Umweltausschuss

  • Unterrichtsausschuss

  • Unvereinbarkeitsausschuss

  • Verfassungsausschuss

  • Verkehrsausschuss

  • Volksanwaltschaftsausschuss

  • Wissenschaftsausschuss

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Get Stephanie Krisper's plenary speeches in National Council only for the 27th legislative period
plenary_nr <- get_mps_details(
  pad_intern = 2344,
  detail_type = "plenary",
  institution = "NR",
  legis_period = 27
)

# Get plenary speeches for multiple legislative periods
plenary_multiple <- get_mps_details(
  pad_intern = 2344,
  detail_type = "plenary",
  legis_period = c(26, 27)
)

# Get only legislative proposals (item type "A")
proposals <- get_mps_details(
  pad_intern = 2344,
  detail_type = "activities",
  item = "A",
  legis_period = 27
)

# Get activities for multiple legislative periods
activities_multiple <- get_mps_details(
  pad_intern = 2344,
  detail_type = "activities",
  legis_period = c(25, 26, 27)
)

# Get committee memberships for Stephanie Krisper
committees <- get_mps_details(
  pad_intern = 2344,
  detail_type = "committees",
  legis_period = 27
)
} # }