KP Assembly Continues Debate on CPEC

ISLAMABAD, October 5, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) continued debate on violations in the western route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the absence of Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during seventh sitting of the 21st session:

Members’ Participation

  • The KP Assembly met for two hours and 23 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1559 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
  • The House observed prayer and tea break for 23 minutes.
  • Forty lawmakers (32%) were present at the start and 25 (20%) at the adjournment of sitting. A maximum of 56 members (45%) were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
  • The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
  • The Deputy Speaker was also present.
  • The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were absent.
  • Parliamentary leaders of ANP, PPPP, PML-N, QWP and JI were present.
  • Two minority members attended the sitting.

Output

  • The House did not consider the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Urban Mass Transit Bill, 2016 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commission on the Status of Women Bill, 2016.
  • The House adopted a resolution with a majority vote demanding the federal government to conduct judicial inquiry into the issue of Panama Leaks.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Two Calling Attention Notices and questions relating to the departments of Communication & Works and Local Government, Elections & Rural Development were not taken up by the House.
  • Ten lawmakers – PTI (3), QWP (2) and one each of JI, JUI-F, PPPP, PML-N and ANP –took part in the debate for an hour and 46 minutes.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
  •  The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceedings conducted by the United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted