ISLAMABAD, April 5, 2021: The National Assembly was prorogued sine die on Monday amidst a lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth and last sitting of the 31st session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 16 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 20 minutes due to prayer break.
- The sitting started at 04:36 pm against the scheduled time of 04:00 pm.
- The speaker presided over the entire sitting.
- The deputy speaker did not attend the 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 71 (21%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and BAP attended the sitting.
- Five out of ten minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House did not take up any agenda item appearing on `Orders of the Day’ except question hour.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up 11 out of 31 starred questions while lawmakers asked 18 supplementary questions.
Order and Institutionalization
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 05:55 pm following which the chair suspended the proceedings at 05:59 pm as the attendance of lawmakers was found less than the required strength (i.e. one-fourth of total membership) after counting. The proceedings resumed at 06:45 pm but the quorum was found incomplete and 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.