ISLAMABAD, March 10, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan could not transact most of the business appearing on its agenda due to lack of quorum on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fifth sitting of Assembly’s 37th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 39 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1611 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- A member of Panel of Chairpersons presided over the entire sitting in absence of the Speaker.
- The Chief Minister and Opposition Leader did not attend the proceedings.
- Nineteen lawmakers (30%) were present at the outset and 13 (20%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, ANP and PML were present during the proceedings.
- Two minority members also attended the sitting.
- Ten members applied for leave.
Output
- A PkMAP lawmaker withdrew his resolution regarding implementation of minorities’ quota in jobs on assurance of the Minister for Education to resolve the matter. Twelve lawmakers expressed their view on the matter consuming 38 minutes of the proceedings.
- Other resolutions appearing on the agenda remained unaddressed.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Seven out of 12 Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmaker also asked two Supplementary Questions.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on 18 Points of Order consuming 44 minutes of the proceedings.
- A female lawmaker belonging to JUI-F pointed out quorum at 1828 hours that led to the adjournment of sitting.
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.