ISLAMABAD, April 16, 2018: The Balochistan Assembly was adjourned on Monday without taking up any business amidst lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of the Assembly’s 51^st session:

 Members’ Participation 

• The Balochistan Assembly met for 26 minutes and the proceedings remained suspended for 20 minutes due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started at 1634 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for six minutes.
• As many as 28 lawmakers (43%) were present at the outset and seven (11%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, PkMAP, MWM and NP were present during the proceedings.
• As many as two minority members attended the sitting.

Output

• The House did not take any business on the agenda.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Within six minutes following the commencement of the proceedings, the opposition lawmakers left the House without announcing a formal walkout. Meanwhile, a PkMAP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1640 hours that led to the suspension of the proceedings. The quorum was still incomplete on resumption of the sitting at 1700 hours forcing the Chair to adjourn the House till April 19, 2018.
• A point of order consumed one minute of the proceedings.

 Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was not available on the website of the Assembly.
• Attendance of Members was not made public.

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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