NA Passes Four Government Bills, Leaves 58 percent Agenda Unaddressed

• Session Prorogued

ISLAMABAD, August 24, 2020: The National Assembly (NA) did not take up 58 percent agenda and passed four government bills on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during second and last sitting of 25^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for two hours and three minutes.
• The sitting started at 1645 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Sixty-one (18%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 175 (51%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-N and PML attended the sitting.
• Five minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

• The House passed four government bills related to Financial Action Task Force which were the Limited Liability Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill, 2020 and the Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020.
• The House did not consider seven periodical reports, three statutory reports, one calling attention notice and one legislative proposal appearing on `Orders of the Day’.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• Minister and Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training responded to a calling attention notice regarding decision not to open schools in cold areas from August, 2020.

 Order and Institutionalization

• PML-N lawmakers protested during the proceedings for five minutes in front of dais of the Chair when they were disallowed to speak on Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020.
• 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 proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted