ISLAMABAD, June 12, 2013: The Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization presented the federal budget 2013-14 in the first sitting of the 95th session on Wednesday. After the 18th Constitutional Amendment, the Senate provides recommendations on the budget to the National Assembly in 14 days.
Starting 62 minutes late, the sitting witnessed relatively better attendance of members. The budget speech attracted 40% of the total membership in the House.
However, the Leader of the Opposition along with the parliamentary leaders of PML, BNPA, ANP, NP, JUIF and PMLF did not attend the sitting.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Senate met for 22 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1902 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1800 hours, witnessing a delay of 62 minutes.
- The Chairman chaired the entire sitting. The Deputy Chairman was also present.
- Only the parliamentary leader of MQM attended the sitting, while those of PML, BNPA, ANP, NP, JUIF and PMLF remained absent.
- Twenty-eight senators (27% of the total membership – 104) were present at the outset while 42 (40%) were there at the adjournment.
- Two minority senators attended the sitting.
- Nine senators applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization presented the budget in the House. The Senate, after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, has 14 days to give recommendations on the budget and send them to the National Assembly.
Output
- The Annual Budget Statement was presented to the House.
Order and Institutionalization
- Four points of order were raised which consumed 10 minutes (45%) of the sitting time. None of the points of order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on senators’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN