ISLAMABAD, September 17, 2020: The National Assembly was prorogued sine die on Thursday amidst a lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fourth and last sitting of the 26th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for 50 minutes. However, the proceedings remained suspended for 33 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The sitting started at 1144 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 51 (15%) were present at the outset and 56 (16%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and BAP attended the sitting.
- Four out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House did not take up any agenda item appearing on `Orders of the Day’.
Order and Institutionalization
- A PML-N lawmaker pointed out the lack of quorum at 1158 hours that led to the suspension of the proceedings for 33 minutes. On resumption of the proceedings, the attendance of lawmakers was found less than the required strength (i.e. one-fourth of total membership) after counting following which the Chair announced to prorogue the session.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of the lawmakers is available on the National Assembly’s website.
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