ISLAMABAD, May 12, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan on Thursday left most of its agenda unaddressed amid walkout by the opposition parties during fourth sitting of its 28th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Some key observations are as follows:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Balochistan Assembly met for 65 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1635 hours against scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- Thirty two (50%) lawmakers were present at the start and 24 (38%) at the time of adjournment of sitting.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The post of Deputy Speaker is lying vacant.
- The Chief Minister was present.
- The Leader of Opposition attended the sitting for 13 minutes.
- Parliamentary leaders of PML, NP, PkMAP, JUI and ANP were present.
- One minority member attended the sitting.
- Four members applied for leave.
Output:
- Tabled by NP lawmaker, the House referred a resolution regarding provision of relief package to citizens’ during Ramadan to a special committee constituted for this purpose. Nine members expressed their views on the subject consuming 25 minutes of the proceeding.
- Another two resolutions that appeared on the list of business remained unaddressed due to walkout by opposition parties.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House deferred three Starred Questions appearing on the agenda.
Order and Institutionalization
- Members spoke on 14 Points of Order consuming 35 minutes of the proceeding.
- The opposition parties walked out of the House at 1648 hours on the issue of corruption in the province and did not return till the adjournment of sitting.
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.