ISLAMABAD, November 8, 2018: The requisitioned session of the Senate was prorogued sine die on Thursday without completing the debate on the agenda due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings of third and last sitting of 283rd session:
Members’ Participation
- The Senate met for an hour and 59 minutes.
- The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
- The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
- The Deputy Chairman was not present.
- The Leader of the House attended the sitting for 56 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition remained present during the proceedings.
- The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, MQM, PML-N, NP, PTI, BNP-M, ANP, PPPP and BAP were present.
- Fourteen Senators (13% of the total membership) were present at the outset and 19 (18%) at the end of the sitting.
- One out of four minority members also attended the proceedings.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House continued discussion on the foreign and economic policies of the government through Motions under Rule 218. Five lawmakers discussed the issue for an hour and 23 minutes. Minister of State for Interior gave the policy statement on handling the recent violent protests across the country.
- The House passed a motion under Rule 194 (1) to grant extension of 30 working days to the Standing Committee on Communication for presentation of its report on Sukkur-Multan (M-5) Motorway.
Order and Institutionalization
- The opposition lawmakers staged a token walkout against the absence of ministers who were supposed to respond to the agenda items related to the economic, foreign and security related issues.
- An ANP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1249 hours, however, it was ignored by the Chair.
- A PkMAP lawmaker then pointed the quorum at 1253 hours, and the Chair ordered the bells to be rung for three minutes. The quorum was not found complete upon counting after the given time and the Chair announced the prorogation of the session sine die. The Chair, however, announced to take up the remaining agenda of the requisitioned session in the upcoming regular session which is likely to commence from November 9, 2018.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers is available on the website.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted