ISLAMABAD, April 24, 2015: The third sitting of the Balochistan Assembly’s ongoing session was marked by thin attendance of lawmakers and a major part of the proceedings’ time was consumed by points of orders (POs), says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) on Friday.
The sitting was marked by low attendance of members as 20 lawmakers (31%) were present at the outset of the sitting while 25 (38%) were there at the adjournment.
The House did not take up any agenda item on Order of the Day which included debate on two adjournment motions and resolutions regarding up-gradation of Inter College Ziarat and giving status of district to sub-tehsil Sanjavy.
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 35 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1637 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- 20 lawmakers (31%) were present at the start and 25 (38%) at the end of the sitting.
- A maximum of 32 members (49%) attended the sitting.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was absent.
- The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JUI-F and ANP were present.
- Two minority members attended the sitting.
- Five members applied for leave.
Output
- The House did not take up any agenda item on Order of the Day.
Representation and Responsiveness
- One out of seven starred questions was taken up. Additionally, one supplementary question was raised.
Order and Institutionalization
- Sixteen POs consumed 74 minutes (48%) of the proceedings’ time.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on legislators’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.
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The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.