ISLAMABAD, December 14, 2012: Starting 30 minutes late, the 5^th sitting of National Assembly’s 48^th session which met for an hour and 30 minutes on Friday witnessed low attendance of members.  Thirty-one (9%) members were present at the start while 80 (23%) were there when the sitting was adjourned.

The Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition along with the party heads of PML, BNPA, PMLF, MQM, NP, ANP and JUIF did not attend the sitting.

The house left the entire agenda listed on the orders of the day. Only 11 starred (requiring oral replies) questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministry.

The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for an hour and 30 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1100 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1030 hours. The proceedings were delayed by 30 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting. The Speaker was not present.
• The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Only the parliamentary leader of PPPS was present.
• Chief whips of PPPP and MMAP attended the sitting.
• Thirty-one (9%) members were present at the start while 80 (23%) were there when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 98 members were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
• Five minority members were present.
• Ten members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Eleven out of 26 starred questions (requiring oral replies) were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministry. Additionally, 14 supplementary questions were asked.

Output

• None of the three bills on the Orders of the Day – the Electricity (Amendment) bill 2012, the Gwadar Port Authority bill 2012 and the Criminal Law (Amendment) bill 2012 – were taken up during the sitting.

Order and Institutionalization

• Six Points of Order were raised that consumed 25 minutes. None of the Points of Order attracted the chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.

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