ISLAMABAD, June 13, 2017: The National Assembly passed the Finance Bill, 2017 on Tuesday amidst boycott by the opposition parties, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are key observations of the proceedings during 14th sitting of the 43rd session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for three hours and 30 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1541 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 40 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 30 minutes.
- As many as 68 lawmakers (20%) were present at the outset and 54 (15%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JI, QWP-S, PkMAP, ANP, JUI-F and APML attended the sitting.
- Six minority lawmakers were also present.
Output
- Moved by the Minister for Finance, the House passed the Finance Bill, 2017 with amendments.
- The House adopted 150 Demand for Grants for the financial year 2017-18. The opposition lawmakers submitted 1704 cut motions on these demands; however, none was moved due to absence of concerned members.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Finance concluded the general discussion on the Annual budget 2017-18 consuming 39 minutes of the proceedings.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on three Points of Order consuming 34 minutes of the proceedings.
- The entire opposition walked out from proceedings at 1614 hours over refusal of the government to telecast the opposition lawmakers’ budget speeches. They did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting.
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