Two legislators attend 10-minute sitting of Balochistan Assembly

ISLAMABAD, Dec 26: The sixth sitting of Balochistan Assembly’s ongoing session was adjourned after ten minutes as only two Members were present in the House.

The sitting was adjourned after the lack of Quorum was pointed out.

None of the four Questions on the Orders of the Day were taken up.

The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

  • The Balochistan Assembly met for only 10 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1115 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours. The House proceedings were delayed by 15 minutes.
  • The Deputy Speaker presided over the sitting. The Speaker was not present.
  • The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were not present.
  • None of the Parliamentary Leaders attended the sitting.
  • Only two Members were present at the start and at the end of the sitting when the Quorum was pointed out.

Transparency

  • Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
  • Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
  • The Deputy Speaker ordered for ringing the bells for five minutes as the lack of Quorum was pointed out. After five minutes, the sitting was adjourned.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Four Questions on the agenda were not taken up by the House.

Output

  • No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.

Order and Institutionalization

  • No Points of Order were raised during the sitting.
  • There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.
After successfully observing the proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate.This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the sixth sitting of the 29th session of the Balochistan Assembly.

These reports are released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development (CPD), a member organization of FAFEN