ISLAMABAD, June 17, 2015: The Balochistan Assembly witnessed presentation of the Provincial Budget for the upcoming financial year, amid boycott of the opposition parties on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
The sitting started 23 minutes behind the schedule with 43 members (66% of the total membership-65) present at the start and 44 (68%) at the time of adjournment.
The Advisor to the Chief Minister on Finance presented the annual budget 2015-2016 as well as the supplementary budget statement for the year 2014-2015. He took 66 minutes (92% of the sitting time) to present the budget.
Following are some key observations of the proceedings:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Balochistan Assembly met for 72 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1653 hours against the scheduled time of 1630 hours, witnessing a delay of 23 minutes.
- 43 members were present at the start and 44 at the end of sitting.
- A maximum of 46 members (71%) were observed to be present at one point during the proceedings.
- The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was not present.
- The parliamentary leaders of MWM, PML-N, PML and PkMAP were present.
- None of the members applied for leave.
- One minority member attended the sitting.
Output
- Advisor to Chief Minister on Finance presented the Provincial Budget 2015-16.
Order and Institutionalization
- The opposition lawmakers did not attend the sitting for having reservations over allocation of development funds and nomination of Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, without taking them into confidence.
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