ISLAMABAD, May 30, 2018: The major portion of the National Assembly’s proceedings was consumed in farewell speeches by outgoing lawmakers and debate on political as well as other issues raised through points of order on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during 22nd sitting of National Assembly’s 56th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for four hours and seven minutes.
- The sitting started at 1123 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 29 minutes; Deputy Speaker for 51 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by a member of Panel of Chairpersons.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 56 lawmakers (16%) were present at the outset and 18 (5%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of JI, APML, PkMAP and AJIP attended the sitting.
- Five minority lawmakers were also present.
Output
- Tabled by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed the Services Tribunal (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
- The House witnessed presentation of periodical reports of Standing Committees on Industries and Climate Change for the period of July-December, 2015.
Representation and Responsiveness
- A Calling Attention Notice regarding non-regularization of daily wages and contract employees of government schools, colleges and hospitals in the Federal Capital was deferred.
- The House did not consider a motion to refer the Pakistan Power and Infrastructure Board (Amendment) Bill, 2017 to the Joint Sitting of Parliament.
- A lawmaker spoke on a point of personal explanation for one minute.
Order and Institutionalization
- Thirty lawmakers spoke on as many points of order consuming 87% (three hours and 35 minutes) of the proceedings’ time.
- MQM lawmakers staged a token walkout from the House over their reservations on census results.
- The Chair adjourned the House to meet again on Thursday (May 31, 2018) at 1100 hours when an MQM lawmaker sought permission to move a resolution to create New Southern Sindh Province.
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.