ISLAMABAD, April 9, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan deferred general discussion on education system amid walkout by opposition parties during first private members’ day of its 27th session on Saturday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Some key observations are as follows:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Balochistan Assembly met for 55 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1615 hours against scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- Sixteen (26%) lawmakers were present at the start and 17 (28%) at the time of adjournment of sitting.
- A maximum of 24 (39%) members attended the sitting.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The post of Deputy Speaker is lying vacant.
- The Chief Minister was absent.
- Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 45 minutes.
- Parliamentary leaders of MWM, PkMAP, PML and JUI-F were present.
- One minority member attended the sitting.
- Three members applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Submitted by NP lawmaker, the House referred an amendment to the rules of procedure and conduct of business of the assembly to relevant committee.
- The House deferred general discussion on development of education system till next session.
- Submitted by JUI-F lawmakers, the House rejected three adjournment motions with majority votes against them. Six members spoke on AM’s for 40 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Members spoke on two Points of Order consuming 4 minutes of the proceeding.
- The opposition parties staged walkout at 1658 hours for rejecting the adjournment motions submitted by JUI-F lawmakers and did not return back to the House. A female lawmaker belonging to NP also staged a token walkout on same issue at 1704 Hours.
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 proceeding conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.