ISLAMABAD, August 21, 2017: The National Assembly concluded the discussion on the Elections Bill, 2017 while leaving the rest of the agenda unaddressed on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are key observations of the proceedings of the ninth sitting of 44th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for four hours and five minutes.
- The sitting started at 1625 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 21 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) attended the sitting for an hour and 12 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for four hours.
- As many as 76 (22%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 64 (19%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, JI, PkMAP, PML-F, BNP, QWP-S, ANP and APML attended the sitting.
- Seven minority lawmakers were also present.
Output
- Twelve lawmakers took part in the discussion on the Elections Bill, 2017 that continued for three hours and 29 minutes. Federal Minister for Law and Justice concluded the discussion. The clause-by-clause consideration of the bill will take place during the next sitting.
- The House adopted a motion to suspend the Private Members’ business for Tuesday and take up the Government business.
- The House did not take up any other agenda item.
Order and Institutionalization
- Two lawmakers spoke on the Points of Order consuming 21 minutes of the proceedings.
- The PTI lawmaker protested for seven minutes against allowing the disgruntled female lawmaker of the party to speak in the House.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on the National Assembly website.
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