ISLAMABAD, June 25, 2015: The sixth and last sitting of Balochistan Assembly’s 19th session was marked by thin attendance as more than half (63%) of the proceedings time was consumed by points of order (POs), says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Thirty lawmakers (46%) were present at the start of the sitting and 25 (38%) at the time of adjournment. The Chief Minister and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
The House passed the Balochistan Revenue Authority Bill 2015 as well as the Balochistan Sales Tax on Services Bill 2015.
Following are some key observations of the proceedings:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Balochistan Assembly met for 63 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1627 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- 30 members were present at the start of the sitting and 25 at the time of adjournment.
- A maximum of 35 members (54%) attended the proceedings.
- The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The Chief Minister and Opposition Leader were present for the entire duration.
- The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, ANP, PML, PkMAP and JUI-F were present.
- Two minority members attended the proceedings.
- None of the member applied for leave.
Output
- The House passed the Balochistan Revenue Authority Bill 2015 and Balochistan Sales Tax on Services Bill 2015.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House passed a motion to fill the vacant seats of Provincial Standing Committees.
Order and Institutionalization
- Twelve points of order consumed 40 minutes (63%) of the sitting.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on legislators’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.
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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