ISLAMABAD, September 26, 2018: The Sindh Assembly continued the general discussion on budget amidst protests by opposition lawmakers, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Wednesday.
Following are key observations of proceedings during fourth sitting of the second session:
Members’ Participation
- The Sindh Assembly met for five hours and 27 minutes; however the proceedings remained suspended for three minutes due to Azan.
- The sitting started at 1045 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for three hours and 37 minutes while the Deputy speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
- The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) attended the sitting for an hour.
- The Leader of the Opposition and the parliamentary leaders have not been notified yet.
- As many as 45 lawmakers (27%) were present at outset and 68 lawmakers (41%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- As many as five out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as 17 lawmakers participated in the general discussion on budget statement for the remaining nine months of current financial year 2018-19. The discussion continued for five hours and three minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers raised three points of orders consuming six minutes of the proceedings.
- The lawmakers belonging to PTI, MQM and GDA staged a 34-minute walkout against the Chair’s refusal to allow a MQM member to speak on a point of order.
- The lawmakers from PTI, MQM and GDA also protested for six minutes during the proceedings against PPPP lawmakers’ remarks about the opposition parties’ leadership.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on September 27, 2018 (Thursday) at 1000 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.