ISLAMABAD, June 21, 2019: The National Assembly met for 13 hours and 21 minutes on Friday and consumed major portion of the proceedings in debate on the federal budget 2019-20, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during eighth sitting of the 11th NA session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for 13 hours and 21 minutes; however, it took prayer breaks twice for an hour and 57 minutes.
- The proceedings started at 1023 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 13 minutes, Deputy Speaker for an hour and 58 minutes while rest of the proceedings was chaired by two members of Panel of Chairpersons.
- The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- A total of 46 lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset and 15 (4%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, BAP, PML, PPPP and JWP attended the sitting.
- Eight out of 10 minority lawmakers were also present during the proceedings.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Forty-two lawmakers took part in the general discussion on the federal budget for the year 2019-20. The discussion consumed ten hours and 55 minutes (82%) of the proceedings.
Order and Institutionalization
- Four lawmakers including Minister of State for Climate Change, Minister for Power and Petroleum Divisions spoke on as many points of personal explanation for six minutes.
- A PTI lawmaker (Chief Whip) spoke on a point of order for three minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on June 22, 2019 (Saturday) at 1030 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
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