ISLAMABAD, June 17, 2019: The sitting of the National Assembly was adjourned on Monday due to the protest by treasury lawmakers during the opening speech of Leader of the Opposition on the Federal Budget 2019-20, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the 11th NA session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for 31 minutes.
- The proceedings started at 1653 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
- The Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
- A total of 158 lawmakers (46%) were present at the outset and 205 (60%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of ANP, MMAP, BNP, PML-N, PPPP, BAP and GDA attended the sitting.
- Eight out of 10 minority lawmakers were also present during the proceedings.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As soon as the Leader of the Opposition opened the budget debate, his speech was continuously interrupted by the treasury lawmakers, who chanted slogans against him. The Opposition Leader spoke for 15 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- A PPPP lawmaker, on a point of order, demanded the Chair to issue the Production Orders of the detained PPPP Co-Chairperson to attend the ongoing budget session. Earlier, the Leader of the Opposition also made a similar request for issuing Production Orders of the detained members of the House.
- The treasury lawmakers continued their protest on the floor for 22 minutes during the opening speech of the Leader of the Opposition. Despite repeated directions by the Chair, the treasury lawmakers continued their protest that led to the adjournment of the House until June 18, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1030 hours.
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’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted