Budget Discussion Continues in National Assembly

ISLAMABAD, May 4, 2018: The National Assembly continued general discussion on the Annual Budget 2018-19 on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the fourth sitting of the 56th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The National Assembly met for two hours and 50 minutes.
  •  The sitting started at 1034 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 16 minutes, Deputy Speaker for 40 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by a member of Panel of Chairpersons.
  • The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition was present for 43 minutes.
  • As many as 44 lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset and 25 (7%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PML, QWP, PPPP, PkMAP, PML-F, JI, AJIP, ANP and BNP attended the sitting.
  • Five minority lawmakers were present.

Representation and Responsiveness  

  • Eight lawmakers took part in the debate on annual budget 2018-19. The discussion continued for two hours and 13 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

  • Five lawmakers spoke on as many points of order consuming 15 minutes of the proceedings.
  • Two lawmakers spoke on point of personal explanation for four minutes.

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.