ISLAMABAD, April 17, 2017: The quorum issue persisted in the National Assembly on Monday as the sitting had to be adjourned due to the presence of less than 25 percent lawmakers in the House, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
The sitting remained suspended for 31 minutes due to lack of quorum pointed out by a PPPP lawmaker. It was the fourth such occasion during the ongoing session when the quorum was pointed out and three sittings had to be adjourned due to want to missing legislators.
The opposition lawmakers called for ensuring presence of relevant ministers in the House to respond to their questions during Question Hour.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the 41st session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 17 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1609 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Sitting remained suspended for 31 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for 36 minutes while the rest of proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 50 minutes.
- Twenty-two lawmakers (6%) were present at the outset and 48 (14%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of ANP, JI, AMLP, PML-Z and APML attended the sitting.
- Three minority members were present.
Output
- A bill – the Compulsory Teaching of the Holy Quran Bill, 2017 – was not considered by the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as nine out of 40 Starred Questions were responded to by the treasury. The lawmakers asked 25 Supplementary Questions.
- The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices appearing on the agenda.
Order and Institutionalization
- Lawmakers spoke on five Points of Order consuming 27 minutes of the sitting.
- The lawmakers belonging to PPPP staged a walkout at 1740 hours against the enforced disappearances of their party loyalists. They did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1749 hours, subsequently head count was made and the Chair had to suspend the sitting for lack of quorum. The quorum was not found complete on the resumption of proceedings, and the House had to be adjourned for next sitting.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was available to the 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.