ISLAMABAD, June 14, 2010:  The ninth sitting of the 23^rd session started with a total of 75 members present at the outset and 82 legislators present at the end. The House further debated on the budgetary proposals for a total of 159 minutes, reports the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on the Ninth 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 03 hours and 42 minutes.
• The ninth sitting started at 1740 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours. The House proceedings started late by 40 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 50 minutes, while the Deputy Speaker presided the sitting for 59 minutes. The remaining 87 minutes were chaired by Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel (Panel of Chairpersons).
• The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 21 minutes, while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 55 minutes.
• Parliamentary leaders of PML, PMLF and PPPS were present, while the leaders of MQM, ANP, NPP, MMAP and BNPA remained absent.
• The Chief Whips of PPPP, PMLN, PML, PMLF and PPPS were present, while those of MQM, MMAP, ANP, NPP and BNPA were absent.
• 04 Members appealed for leave to be absent from the sitting.
• The House took a break of 26 minutes on the account of prayers.
• A total of 75(22%) members were present at the outset of the sitting, while 82(24%) at the end of the sitting.
• A total of 5 minority members were present during the ninth sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 11 legislators spoke on the budgetary proposals presented in the third sitting.
• Three members of PMLN spoke on the budget for a total of 58 minutes and two members of PPPP took 26 minutes. Similarly, two members each from PML and MQM took 25 and 30 minutes respectively, while two Independants took 20 minutes to address the budget.
• The Minister for Finance and Revenue was not present during the sitting.

Output

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

Order and institutionalization

• 04 Points of Order was raised, taking up 27 minutes of the House proceedings.
• There was no Adjournment Motion on the Orders of the Day.
• There was no instance of walkout or boycott during the sitting

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.