Uruguayan legislators filed 644 bills during the current term, but only 16 passed

Uruguayan lawmakers submitted three out of every four bills introduced during the current parliamentary term, but their proposals produced only a small share of the laws enacted.

Since the term began on February 15, 2025, legislators and the executive branch have submitted 858 bills. By the study’s August 2026 cutoff, 95 had completed the parliamentary process. Executive-branch initiatives accounted for 79 of those laws, or 83% of the total.

Members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate submitted 644 proposals, but only 16 became law. That represents 2.5% of the bills introduced by legislators and 17% of all approved initiatives. The executive branch submitted 214 bills, of which 37% completed the process.

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The indicators used by the Observatory describe different dimensions of parliamentary activity, but do not by themselves constitute an evaluation of the quality or performance of legislators.

The figures come from an analysis by the Center for Public Policy Studies, chaired by former Ancap president Alejandro Stipanicic. The study also examines requests for information, the government’s response rate and the number of lawmakers with completed university education.

The researchers caution that the indicators do not by themselves assess the quality or performance of legislators. A high number of bills or information requests does not necessarily indicate better parliamentary work. Still, the study says Parliament largely legislates through government initiatives, focusing on approving, amending or rejecting them. It also notes that 23% of submitted bills were reintroduced from earlier parliamentary terms. By party, the National Party submitted 242 bills, the Colorado Party 221, the Broad Front 154, Cabildo Abierto 27, Identidad Soberana 15 and the Independent Party five, while lawmakers from different parties jointly submitted 34.

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Parliament, in practice, legislates little on its own initiative; its central task seems to focus on approving, amending or rejecting projects sent by the Executive Branch.