ISLAMABAD, August 3, 2016: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly passed the Ehtesab Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2016 during the first sitting of its 20^th session on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation

• The KP Assembly met for an hour and 49 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1551 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• 17 lawmakers (14%) were present at the start and 64 (52%) at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 71 members (57%) were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for an hour and 42 minutes while the Opposition Leader was present for an hour and 41 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, JI and PPPP attended the sitting.
• Two minority members were present.
• Eleven members applied for leave.

Output

• The House passed the KP Ehtesab Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and also witnessed presentation of Galiyat Development Authority Ordinance 2016 and KP Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance 2016.
• Another bill – the KP Universities (Amendment) Bill 2016 – was deferred by the House.
• The House adopted two resolutions.The first resolution was about resolving the problems of Overseas Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia while other condemned terrorist attack in Madina Munawara.
• The House rejected a disapproval resolution on the Galiyat Development Authority Ordinance, 2016 which was sponsored by a female PML-N lawmaker.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Sponsored by PPPP lawmaker, the House took up a calling attention notice to review the Rules of Business drafted before 18th amendment. It was agreed to constitute a committee for the purpose which would suggest necessary amendments.

Order and Institutionalization

• Two Points of Order consumed ten minutes of the proceeding.
• A PML-N lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1557 hours following which the Chair ordered the bells to be rung for two minutes. However, it was found complete upon counting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceeding conducted by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.