ISLAMABAD, April 28, 2011: As many as ten members of the National Assembly took part in the ongoing debate on presidential address, which consumed 68% of 14th sitting time, and attempted to dispose off majority of listed agenda items while the quorum issues persisted. Only 11% members were present at the outset of the sitting while 9% were attending the proceedings when the sitting was adjourned. Maximum of 45% members were present at one point of the sitting.

With the exception of unaddressed 26 questions and one Calling Attention Notice, the sitting dealt with all the listed agenda items.

The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 90 minutes, while the Leader of Opposition remained absent.

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for 3 hours and 40 minutes.
• The fourteenth sitting started at 1020 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The House proceedings started late by 20 minutes.
• A member of Penal of Chairpersons chaired the sitting for 55 minutes while remaining sitting time (165 minutes) was chaired by the Deputy Speaker. The Speaker remained absent during the proceedings.
• The Prime Minister was present for 90 minutes, while the Leader of Opposition did not attend the fourteenth sitting.
• Besides Prime Minister, the Parliamentary Leader of the MQM, PPPS and PMLF were present while the leaders of other parliamentary parties including PMLN, PML, MMAP, ANP, NPP and BNPA were absent.
• The Chief Whips of PPPP, PMLN, MQM, MMAP and PPPS were present, while the chief whips of ANP, PML, PMLF, NPP and BNPA were absent.
• A total of 37 (11%) members were present at the outset of the sitting, while 31 (9%) members at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 155 members (45%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• Seven members applied for leave to be absent from the sitting.
• As many as eight out of 10 minority members were present during the 14^th sitting.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• There were two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) on the Orders of the Day. The House took up one.
• The taken up CAN regarding “non-payment of salary to the staff of National Education Foundation for the last seven months” was directed to Ministry of Finance and Revenue and was moved by four male and one female members of MQM.
• A total of 36 questions were listed to be taken up during the Questions Hour. However, 10 questions were put up and responded to by the relevant minister.
• A total of 21 Supplementary Questions were raised in the House during the fourteenth sitting.
• A total of 10 members (4 of PPPP, 2 each of PMLN and PML, one MQM and an independent) participated in the ongoing debate on presidential address for 150 minutes (68% of total sitting time).

Output

• Two reports on separate privilege motions by two members were presented before the House. The reports were presented by the Chairman of Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges.
• There was no legislation business listed for the 14th session.

Order and institutionalization

• A total of 6 Points of Order were raised, consuming 8 minutes of the sitting. However, none of the Point of Order raised by Members attracted Speaker’s ruling.
• There were no instances of walkout, protest or boycott during the fourteenth sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting. However, lack of quorum was not pointed out by any of the members of the National Assembly.

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