KP Assembly Adjourned due to Lack of Quorum

ISLAMABAD, December 11, 2017: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly was adjourned on Monday amidst lack of quorum and opposition lawmakers’ walkout, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during fourth sitting of the 27^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The KP Assembly met for an hour and ten minutes.
• The sitting started at 1603 hours against the scheduled time 1400 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 28 MPAs (22%) were present at outset and 24 (19%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of ANP and PPPP attended the sitting.
• None of the minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• Moved by a PTI lawmaker, the House adopted a supplementary resolution recommending the government to direct Pakistani embassies regarding improving facilitation mechanisms for Pakistanis abroad.
• Moved by a PPPP lawmaker, the House also adopted a resolution condemning the US decision to shift its embassy to Jerusalem.
• The House did not take up the reports and legislative business appearing on Orders of the Day.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Only one out of 15 Starred Questions were taken up for answer during the proceedings while the remaining questions were deferred due to absence of the concerned ministers.
• The House rejected a Privilege Motion of JUI-F lawmaker.

Order and Institutionalization

• The opposition lawmakers staged a walkout at 1700 hours over disregard of the Orders of the Day by the Chair.
• A lawmaker belonging to PPPP pointed out the quorum at 1707 hours that led to adjournment of the sitting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance was not available to the observers and media.

The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly proceedings conducted by United Rural Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted.

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