• Only 67 Legislators present at the end
• Joint Sitting starts after more than two-hour delay

ISLAMABAD, March 26, 2012: Starting two hours and 20 minutes behind schedule, the Joint Sitting of the Parliament met for three hour and five minutes.

Twenty-six Points of Order consumed 81% of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order raised attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

A total of 168 (combined of both the Houses) Legislators were present at the start while only 67 were there when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 218 Members were present during a point of the sitting.

The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 29 minutes.

Only the Parliamentary Leader of the MMAP attended the proceedings.

Legislators’ participation in Parliament proceedings

• The Joint Sitting met for three hours and five minutes.
• The sitting started at 1820 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The proceedings started late by two hours and 20 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the initial one hour of the sitting while the remaining time was presided over by the Speaker.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 29 minutes.
• Only the parliamentary leader of the MMAP was present while those of the PPPS, NPP, ANP, PML, PMLF, BNPA and MMAP were absent.
• The Chief Whips of the PPPP, PMLN, MMAP, MQM, ANP, PML and PMLF were present.
• A total of 168 Legislators (including Senators) were present at the start and 67 at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 218 Members were present during a point of the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• No Calling Attention Notices appeared on the Orders of the Day.

Parliamentary Output

• Three Bills appearing on the Orders of the Day were not taken up by the Parliament.

Order and institutionalization

• Twenty-six Points of Order consumed 150 minutes (81%) of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order raised attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• The PMLN protested against the unscheduled power outages in the country.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Legislators’ attendance was unavailable 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.