ISLAMABAD, September 26, 2016: The National Assembly unanimously passed five treasury-sponsored pieces of legislation, including the Hindu Marriage Bill 2016, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet on Monday.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during first sitting of the 36^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for three hours and 11 minutes.
• The proceedings remained suspended for 25 minutes due to prayers break.
• The sitting started at 1706 hours against the scheduled time of 1700 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 53 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 24 minutes.
• Forty-two lawmakers (12%) were present at the outset while 37 (10%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, PkMAP, JI, PML-F and ANP attended the sitting.
• Seven minority members were present.

Output

• The House unanimously passed the Hindu Marriage Bill, 2016, the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill, 2016 and the Companies (Appointment of Legal Advisers) (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Law & Justice presented the reports of the committee on the Central Law Officers (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The House condoned the delay in presentation of these reports.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as eight out of 38 Starred Questions were responded to by the government. The lawmakers also asked 18 Supplementary Questions.
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices regarding poor conditions of health establishments in Islamabad and under construction Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway (M-9).
• Six lawmakers spoke on Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir consuming 23 minutes of the proceedings.

Order and Institutionalization

• A lawmaker spoke on a Point of Order consuming eight minutes of the sitting.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1835 hours but it was found complete on counting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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