ISLAMABAD, October 16, 2020: The National Assembly transacted more than half of its agenda on Friday and witnessed introduction of a government bill seeking amendment in the Elections Act, 2017, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Tuesday.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during the first sitting of 27th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for an hour and 36 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1653 hours against the scheduled time of 1630 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
- The Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) attended the sitting for 21 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- One hundred and thirty-one (38%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 109 (32%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of BAP attended the sitting.
- Four minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- Advisor to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which was referred to the relevant committee.
- Ten periodical reports of as many Standing Committees for a period of six months were presented in the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up one out of 32 starred questions while the remaining questions could not be taken up due to opposition’s protest.
- Two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) on the agenda remained unaddressed.
Order and Institutionalization
- The entire opposition staged protest for 13 minutes during the proceedings and chanted anti-government slogans. Following this protest, the Speaker announced to suspend the proceedings for 20 minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on October 19, 2020 (Monday) at 1600 hours.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted