Senate Concludes Debate on Motion Regarding Political Issues

ISLAMABAD, November 11, 2019: The Senate concluded debate on a Motion under Rule 218 regarding alleged political victimization and denial of fundamental rights to members of Opposition parties, observes the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily Factsheet on Monday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fourth sitting of 294th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for two hours and 29 minutes.
  • The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1530 hours.
  • The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
  • The Deputy Chairman was not present.
  • The Leader of the House attended the sitting for two hours and 18 minutes.
  • The Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 53 minutes.
  • The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
  • As many as 13 lawmakers (12%) were present at the outset and 20 (19%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, BNP-M, NP and PML-N attended the sitting.
  • As many as two out of four minority lawmakers were present.

 Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House concluded debate on a Motion under Rule 218 regarding alleged political victimization, denial of fundamental rights to members of Opposition parties and revocation of citizenship of a former Member of Parliament. Ten lawmakers including Minister for Parliamentary Affairs spoke on it for an hour and 51 minutes.
  • The House did not consider four other motions under Rule 218.

Order and Institutionalization 

  • The Leader of the House spoke on a point of order for one minute.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on November 12, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1530 hours.

Transparency

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

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