Some challenges facing several e-parliaments include:
- Limited resources: Local financial management for parliaments frequently suffer from lacking technological infrastructure and capacity.
- Lack of quality and archived parliamentary data: Data should be good quality, accurate, complete, reliable, timely and relevant.
- Insufficient skills among MPs and parliamentary staff: Some MPs and parliamentary staff are not computer literate which affects their productivity.
- Security Issues: Parliament being a government body, possesses a lot of sensitive data. Its security is very important to avoid theft, leakage of sensitive information, and corruption of data.
Some solutions already in use by several parliaments include:
- Installing the appropriate and secure digital infrastructure in meeting rooms and chambers.
- Digitizing parliamentary information — minutes, Hansard and library books uploaded on the parliaments' portals to encourage transparency.
- Training of MPs and parliamentary staff on the available systems.
- Developing and implementing a formal citizen engagement policy.
- Implementing the pre-conditions necessary for the effective rollout of e-Parliament.
In conclusion, a virtual Parliament or e-parliament is a very important tool in shaping the future of parliaments. It will help the legislators become more efficient, improve citizen engagement and encourage the younger generation to join the parliament and participate in democratic processes.