ISLAMABAD, January 16, 2017: Starting 30 minutes behind the schedule, the Monday’s sitting of the Balochistan Assembly was adjourned due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are key observations of the proceedings of fifth sitting of Balochistan Assembly’s 36th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 15 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1630 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Speaker chaired the proceedings for an hour and 16 minutes while a Member of Panel of Chairperson presided over the rest of the proceedings (59 minutes).
- The Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- Eighteen lawmakers (26%) were present at the outset while 15 (22%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- Parliamentary leaders of PML and ANP were present.
- One minority member attended the sitting.
- Twelve members applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House deferred four Starred Questions appearing on the agenda due to absence of the mover.
- Sponsored by PkMAP lawmakers, the House referred two Privilege Motions (PM) to relevant standing committee. Six lawmakers spoke on these motions consuming 41 minutes of the proceedings.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on seven Points of Order consuming 31 minutes of the proceedings.
- A lawmaker belonging to ANP pointed out quorum at 1804 hours. The bells were rung for ten minutes; however the quorum was found incomplete upon recount that led to the adjournment of the 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.