ISLAMABAD, December 19, 2017: The National Assembly on Tuesday did not take up agenda on Private Member’s Day and debated issues related to politics and agriculture, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during ninth sitting of the 50^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for three hours and five minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 35 minutes due to a prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1612 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 23 minutes while the remaining proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for 22 minutes.
• Fifty-one (15%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 21 (6%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI, QWP, PPPP, ANP, PkMAP and APML attended the sitting.
• Five minority lawmakers were also present.

Output

• The House did not take up any of the agenda item on Private Member’s Day.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised 23 Points of Order consuming two hours and 23 minutes of the proceedings. They mostly spoke on political matters and issues of sugarcane growers.
• PPPP and FATA lawmakers staged a walkout at 1640 hours for not including FATA Reforms Bill on the agenda. They did not return to the House until the adjournment of sitting at 1917 hours.
• A PPPP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1802 hours but it was found complete upon counting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on the National Assembly website.

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted