Balochistan Assembly Adjourned due to Lack of Quorum

ISLAMABAD, March 20, 2018: The Balochistan Assembly was adjourned on Tuesday without transacting its scheduled business due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the third sitting of the Assembly’s 50th session:

 Members’ Participation 

  • The Balochistan Assembly met for 13 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1529 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
  • The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
  • The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
  • As many as 16 lawmakers (25%) were present at the outset and 11 (17%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of NP, PkMAP and PML were present during the proceedings.
  • None of the minority members attended the sitting.

Output

  • The House did not take up the resolutions appearing on Orders of the Day.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House did not hold the scheduled discussion on Adjournment Motions

Order and Institutionalization

  • The lawmakers spoke on five points of order consuming 10 minutes of the proceedings.
  • An NP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1537 hours that led to the adjournment of the sitting after five minutes of bells.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
  • Attendance of Members was not made public.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.