ISLAMABAD, December 21, 2017: The proceedings of the National Assembly continued for 15 minutes on Thursday as the Chair announced prorogation of the session sine die after the quorum was found incomplete, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during 11th sitting of the 50th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for 57 minutes while proceedings remained suspended for 42 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The sitting started at 1040 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for nine minutes while the remaining proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
- Forty-three (13%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 82 (24%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, QWP and PkMAP attended the sitting.
- Four minority lawmakers were also present.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House did not observe the Question Hour while two Calling Attention Notices and a Motion of Thanks were not taken up.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers raised two Points of Order consuming three minutes of the proceedings.
- Opposition lawmakers staged a walkout at 1047 hours for not including FATA Reforms Bill on the agenda. They did not return to the House until the adjournment of the sitting at 1137 hours.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1049 hours which led to the suspension of the sitting for 42 minutes. After the resumption of sitting at 1131 hours, the Deputy Speaker asked for counting the members’ requisite strength in the House which was not found to be complete and the session was prorogued sine die.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on the National Assembly website.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted