ISLAMABAD, June 11, 2012: The Provincial Minister for Finance presented the budget during the first sitting of the 32^nd session of the Balochistan Assembly on Monday.

Starting 15 minutes late, the sitting lasted an hour and 25 minutes. The Finance Minister presented the budget in an hour and five minutes speech. The Chief Minister along with all parliamentary leaders attended the sitting.

A total of 44 Members (68% of total Membership – 65) were present at the start, while 54 (83%) were present when the sitting was adjourned. In the last number of sessions the House has witnessed low attendance of Members.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Assembly met for an hour and 25 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1515 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1500 hours. The House proceedings started late by 15 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of the BNPA, PMLN, JUIF, JUI (Ideological), PML, ANP and NP attended the sitting.
• A total of 44 Members (68% of total Membership – 65) were present at the start, while 54 (83%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Provincial Minister for Finance presented the budget in an hour and five minutes speech.

Output

• No other agenda appeared on the Agenda.

Order and Institutionalization

• Two Points of Order consumed seven minutes.
• An ANP legislator staged a walkout protesting against non-action by the committee formed on the clerk association’s issue.

Transparency

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

• Copies of the budget speech were available to the legislators.

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