ISLAMABAD, July 14, 2021: The National Assembly left its entire agenda unaddressed and was adjourned due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet on Wednesday.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fifth sitting of the 35th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for an hour and 34 minutes.
- The sitting started at 11:37 am against the scheduled time of 11:00 am.
- The deputy speaker presided over the entire sitting in the absence of speaker.
- The leaders of the house (Prime Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 61 (18%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 55 (16%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of MQMP, GDA and PPPP attended the sitting.
- Six minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House did not consider three resolutions seeking extension of as many ordinances including the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021; the Higher Education Commission (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 and the Higher Education Commission (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2021.
- The House did not take up the Islamabad Capital Territory Senior Citizens Bill, 2021 and a report of Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on the Special Technology Zones Authority Bill, 2020.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House did not debate a motion of thanks to president for his address to Parliament while two calling attention notices were also remained unaddressed.
Order and Institutionalization
- Eleven lawmakers spoke on points of order for 36 minutes mostly related to political matters, governance, sports and law and order.
- Lawmakers belonging to PPPP and PML-N walked out from the House at 12:04 pm and 12:13 pm respectively against the alleged abusive language of a federal minister about their leaderships during election campaign in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). They did not return to the House till adjournment of sitting.
- A PML-N lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 12:18 pm which was found incomplete upon counting. The proceedings remained suspended for 46 minutes but the quorum issue persisted. Later, the House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, July 16, 2021 at 10:00 am.
Transparency
- Orders of the day was available to legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was available to 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