NA Passes Constitutional Amendment for Increased Representation to Ex-FATA

ISLAMABAD, May 13, 2019: The National Assembly passed the 26^th Constitutional Amendment on Monday providing for increased representation to ex-FATA in National and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assemblies and delay in the upcoming elections for 16 Provincial Assembly seats, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet

Following are key observations of the proceedings during 14^th (last) sitting of the ninth session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours and 11 minutes.
• The proceedings started at 1229 hours against the scheduled time of 1200 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 25 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired rest of the sitting.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) attended the sitting for two hours and nine minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 116 lawmakers (34%) were present at the outset and 288 (84%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of GDA, BAP, PML-N, PPPP, MMAP, ANP, AMLP, PML and MQM attended the sitting.
• As many as eight out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• Tabled by an Independent lawmaker, the House passed the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The bill received votes of all 288 lawmakers present in the House in its favor. The Constitutional Amendment passed unanimously aims at increasing the number of National Assembly General Seats for ex-FATA from six to 12 and the number of KP Assembly seats from 16 to 24. Moreover, the elections on all these 24 additional seats of KP Assembly will be held within 18 months after General Elections held on July 25, 2018. Earlier, the elections on the 16 General Seats of KP Assembly were to be held within one year after the last general elections as per 25^th Constitutional Amendment.
• The House also held a debate on the Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2019 before its approval from the House. Eight lawmakers including the Prime Minister participated in the debate consuming 59 minutes of the proceedings. The bill proposes amendments in Article 51 and 106 to increase the number of seats for erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas. It was introduced on April 23, 2019 by an independent lawmaker and report of the Standing Committee of Law and Justice on the bill was presented on May 9, 2019 in the House.
• A PTI lawmaker introduced the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 aimed at creating South Punjab Province. The House passed a motion to constitute Special Committee for consideration of the bill following which the bill was referred to it. Three lawmakers including the Minister for Foreign Affairs also spoke on it for 14 minutes.
• The Minister for Housing and Works introduced the Naya Pakistan Housing Authority Bill, 2019 and the Recovery of Mortgage-backed Securities Bill, 2019. Both bills were referred to the relevant committees.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The Minister for Energy responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding difficulties being faced by the residents of Islamabad due to ban on new electricity and gas connection meters.
• Another CAN on the agenda remained unaddressed.

Order and Institutionalization

• The Session was prorogued sine die.

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