ISLAMABAD, May 18, 2018: The Balochistan Assembly began discussing the provincial budget 2018-19 on Friday while censuring PkMAP lawmakers for misbehaving with the Chair during last day’s sittings, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the Assembly’s 52nd session:
Members’ Participation
- The Assembly met for an hour and 31 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1644 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Speaker presided over entire sitting.
- The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition attended entire sitting.
- As many as 25 (38%) lawmakers were present at the commencement and 30 (46%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of MWM, JUI-F, PML, ANP, and PkMAP attended the sitting.
- As many as two minority members were present during the proceedings.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Leader of the Opposition inaugurated the general discussion on budget 2018-19 consuming 48 minutes of the proceedings.
Order and Institutionalization
- Moved by Provincial Home Minister, the House adopted a motion censuring four PkMAP lawmakers for alleged misbehavior with the Chair during second and third sittings. The motion also sought an apology from the censured lawmakers. As many as five lawmakers discussed the motion for 29 minutes.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was not available on the website of the Assembly.
- 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