In parliamentary practice, pairing is an informal arrangement between the government and opposition parties whereby a member of a legislative body agrees or is designated by a party whip to be absent from the chamber or to abstain from voting when a member of the other party needs to be absent from the chamber due to other commitments, illness, travel problems, etc. Thus they maintain the balance of votes if one or the other is unable to attend. A three-line whip would usually be excepted from this agreement. For MPs who are not paired a bisque, a rota system allowing absence, is used.
The member that needs to be absent from their chamber would normally consult with his or her party whip, who would arrange a pair with their counterpart in the other major party, who as a matter of courtesy would normally arrange for one of its members to act as the pair. A pairing would usually not apply for critical votes, such as no-confidence votes.
An alternative method of maintaining the relative voting positions of parties in a legislative body is proxy voting, which is used in New Zealand.[1]