ISLAMABAD, June 19, 2017: The Balochistan Assembly continued general discussion on the annual budget 2017-18 amid opposition’s walkout over differences with the Leader of the House, reports Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of the 42nd session:
Members’ Participation
- The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 54 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1533 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
- The Chief Minister and the Opposition Leader attended the entire proceedings.
- Twenty-four lawmakers (37%) were present at the outset and 32 (49%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- Parliamentary leaders of PML-N, JUI-F, MWM, PML, ANP and PkMAP were present.
- Three minority members also attended the sitting.
- One member applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Ten lawmakers spoke on provincial budget for an hour and 39 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- JUI-F and ANP lawmakers walked out of the House for ten minutes against the attitude of Chief Minister with Opposition members.
- Two Points of Order consumed four minutes of the proceedings.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Attendance of Members was not made public.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.