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In Germany, ususally bills are discussed by smaller subsets of the parliament in committees.

Parties then decide on a party line for the vote.

Thus, most often the result would not be different if everybody was there.

Edit: Also, because of limited time, commitee meetings may actually be held while there are votes. So it does make sense.

NB: The German parliament however can technically not decide anything if not enough members are present. However, usually attendees are not counted. Parties can demand a named vote though, which is counted. One party demanded that once, and it was almost universially called 'unfair' [1]. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[1] (in German) http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/posse-um-hammelspr...