ISLAMABAD, December 20, 2016: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly passed one bill in the absence of Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition during last sitting of the 21st session on Tuesday, says Free and Fair Election Network in Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings of 21st sitting of 21st session:
Members’ Participation
- The KP Assembly met for two hours and 53 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1444 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
- 45 lawmakers (36%) were present at the start and 28 (23%) at end of the sitting.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were not present.
- Parliamentary leaders of ANP, JI, QWP and PML-N were present.
- One minority member attended the sitting.
Output
- The House passed the KP Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Bill, 2016 after clause by clause reading.
Order and Institutionalization
- Twenty-five minutes were consumed in four Points of Order.
- The opposition lawmakers protested in front of the Chair’s dais for five minutes as the Speaker did not allow a PTI lawmaker to speak on a Point of Order. They halted the protest only after the Chair allowed them to speak.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1735 hours which was followed by the ringing of the bells for two minutes. Later on, less than 25 percent of the lawmakers were found to be present upon counting, and the Chair prorogued the session sine die.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and other stakeholders.
- The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceedings conducted by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted