ISLAMABAD, January 28, 2012:  The tenth sitting of the Senate met for an hour and five minutes with low attendance of Senators. Only 17 were present at the outset of the sitting while 16 present at the adjournment.

The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting. However, this was not pointed out by any of the Legislators.

The Private Power and Infrastructure Board Bill, 2011 was deferred.

The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting while the Leader of the Opposition not present.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and five minutes.
• The sitting started at 1055 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1030 hours. The House proceedings started 25 minutes late.
• The Chairman presided over the sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was not present.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the PMLN, MQM, PMLF, PKMAP and the JI attended the sitting while the leaders of the ANP, NP, PML, JWP, BNPA and the PPPS were absent.
• Seventeen Senators (17%) were present at the start of the sitting while 16 (16%) were there when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 23 Senators (23%) were present during one point of the sitting.
• Five Senators applied for leave to be absent. 
  

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Question Hour was not held during the sitting.
• Two Adjournment Motions about “sexual harassment at workplaces in NGOs” and   “substandard CNG cylinders” were raised, but not taken up by the House. These Motions were sponsored by a JI Senator.

Output

• The Private Power and Infrastructure Board Bill, 2011 was deferred.

Order and Institutionalization

• Seven Points of Order were raised which consumed 10 minutes of the sitting time.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting. However, this was not pointed out by any of the Senators.

After successfully observing proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started the observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate.  This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the tenth sitting of 77th session of the Senate. These reports are released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN