ISLAMABAD, June 11, 2010: The seventh sitting of the 23^rd session started with a total of 42 members present at the outset and 104 legislators present at the end. The House further debated on the budgetary proposals for a total of 115 minutes, reports the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on the Seventh Sitting of the 23^rd Session of the National Assembly proceedings.

The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for 02 hour and 11 minutes.
• The seventh sitting started at 1024 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The House proceedings started late by 24 minutes.
• The Speaker of the House chaired the sitting for 48 minutes, while the remaining 83 minutes were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition remained absent.
• Parliamentary leaders of MMAP and PPPS were present while the leaders of PML, ANP, MQM, PMLF, NPP and BNPA were absent.
• The Chief Whips of PPPP, PMLN, PML, MQM and PPPS were present, while those of MMAP, ANP, PMLF, NPP and BNPA were absent.
• 05 Members appealed for leave to be absent from the sitting
• A total of 42 (12%) members were present at the outset of the sitting, while 104 (30%) at the end of the sitting.
• A total of 5 minority members were present during the seventh sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 9 legislators addressed on the budgetary proposals presented in the third sitting.
• Three members of PPPP addressed on the budget for a total of 29 minutes. Two out of 9 members belonged to PMLN, who spoke for a total of 30 minutes. 2 members of PML addressed the house for a total of 24 minutes. One member of MQM took 13 minutes, while one ANP legislator spoke on the budget for 19 minutes.
•  The Minister for Finance and Revenue was present for 35 minutes during the course of the sitting.

Output

• The House debated on the Finance Bill, 2010 presented in the third sitting.

Order and institutionalization

• 02 Points of Order was raised, taking up 06 minutes of the House proceedings. However, it didn’t require Speaker’s ruling
• There was no Adjournment Motion on the Orders of the Day.
• There was one instance of a walkout by a minority member belonging to PML on the issue of “funds allotment for the minorities”. The walkout lasted for 3 minutes.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The copies of the budget speech were available to the concerned.

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