ISLAMABAD, September 29, 2016: The National Assembly could not take up its agenda on Thursday due to low attendance of lawmakers, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the 36th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for three hours and 34 minutes.
- The proceedings remained suspended for 51 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The sitting started at 1031 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for 46 minutes while a member of the Panel of Chairpersons presided over rest of the proceedings. The Deputy Speaker was not present
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 47 minutes.
- Thirty-four lawmakers (10%) were present at the outset while 19 (5%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JUI-F, PkMAP, JI, BNP-A, APML and ANP attended the sitting.
- Seven minority members were present.
Output
- The House did not take up legislative business appearing on Orders of the Day.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as seven out of 37 Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also asked 11 Supplementary Questions. The Question Hour continued for only 35 minutes.
- The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices appearing on Orders of the Day.
- Two lawmakers took part in the discussion on Fata Reforms 2016 Committee Report that consumed an hour and two minutes of the proceedings.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on two Points of Order consuming 35 minutes of the sitting.
- A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1117 hours that led to the suspension of proceedings at 1120 hours. The proceedings resumed again at 1211 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The 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.