ISLAMABAD, June 22, 2021: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan continued debate on the provincial annual budget for the financial year 2021-2022 amid absence of opposition lawmakers, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Tuesday.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of the budget (40th) session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for an hour and 23 minutes.
- The sitting started at 05:37 pm against the scheduled time of 04:00 pm.
- The speaker presided over the entire sitting, while the deputy speaker was also present.
- The leader of the House (Chief Minister) was absent.
- The opposition leader did not attend the sitting.
- As many as eight MPAs (12 percent) were present at the outset and ten (15 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of BNP-A, JWP and HDP attended the proceedings.
- As many as one out of three minority lawmakers was present.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Five lawmakers participated in debate on provincial budget for an hour and 15 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- All opposition members remained absent from the proceedings of the House.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at 04:00 pm.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.
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.