• Leave Application of Advisor to CM on Excise Rejected

ISLAMABAD, May 20, 2018: The Balochistan Assembly on Sunday concluded debate on provincial budget 2018-19, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during sixth sitting of the Assembly’s 52^nd session:

 Members’ Participation 

• The Assembly met for two hours and 13 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1707 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Speaker presided the sitting for an hour and 55 minutes while rests of the proceedings were chaired by a member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition was absent.
• As many as 22 (34%) lawmakers were present at the commencement and 23 (35%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, MWM and ANP attended the sitting.
• Only one minority lawmaker was present during the proceedings.
• The Chair rejected the leave application of Advisor to Chief Minister on Excise & Taxation as the House did not give consent to it.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as seven lawmakers participated in the general discussion on the provincial budget 2018-19 consuming an hour and 41 minutes of the proceedings.
• Chief Minister winded up debate on the Annual Provincial Budget and spoke for 24 minutes.

Transparency                                

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was not available on the website of the Assembly.
• Attendance of Members was not made public.

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This 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