ISLAMABAD, January 6, 2016: The National Assembly took up most of its agenda amidst low attendance during fourth sitting of 28th session on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 49 minutes.
- The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the proceeding for first 20 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
- The Prime Minister was not present.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 63 minutes.
- 16 MNAs (4%) were present at outset and 68 (20%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PML, PML-Z, BNP, APML and AMLP were present.
- Seven minority members were present.
- Fifteen members applied for leave.
Output
- The Chairmen of Standing Committees on Information, Broadcasting & National Heritage; Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource; Religious Affairs & Interfaith Harmony and Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics & Privatization presented the periodic reports of the committees before the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up ten out of 31 starred questions appearing on the agenda. The Members also asked 15 supplementary questions.
- The government submitted written replies to 17 out of 26 unstarred questions appearing on the agenda.
- The Federal Minister for States & Frontier Regions responded to a Calling Attention Notice regarding delay in the approval of thousands of Schedules of New Expenditure (SNEs) in the FATA.
- Three lawmakers discussed the motion of thanks about the Presidential address for 45 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Lawmakers spoke on five Points of Order consuming 31 minutes of the proceeding.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the lacking quorum at 1315 hours that led to the adjournment of sitting.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers is available on website of National Assembly.
To download factsheet, click here for English version – click here for Urdu version
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted