ISLAMABAD, August 25, 2017: The Balochistan Assembly unanimously adopted two resolutions sponsored by private members on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of the 43^rd session:

Members’ Participation

• The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and three minutes.
• The sitting started at 1700 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the proceedings for an hour and two minutes while rest of the sitting was chaired by a member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Chief Minister was absent.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire proceedings.
• Fifteen lawmakers (23%) were present at the outset and 12 (18%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, ANP and JUI-F were present.
• One minority member attended the sitting.
• Fourteen members applied for leave.

Output

• Moved by a JUI-F lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted a resolution urging the government to set speed limits on main roads for buses and vehicles to avoid road accidents due to over speeding. Seven lawmakers took part in the discussion consuming 34 minutes of the proceedings.
• The House adopted another resolution urging the provincial government to set up Dar-ul-Aman in all Divisional Headquarters of the province to facilitate women who became victims of domestic violence. The resolution was tabled by a female lawmaker belonging to NP while four members shared their views consuming 13 minutes of the sitting time.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up four Starred Questions for answers during the proceedings. The lawmakers asked ten supplementary questions as well.
• A Call Attention Notice (CAN) sponsored by an NP lawmaker remained unaddressed due to absence of the minister concerned. The notice was about the actions taken by the Irrigation and Energy department as recommended by the standing committee in its report on the project related to expansion of Pat Feeders.

Order and Institutionalization

• A lawmaker belonging to JUI-F spoke on a Point of Order consuming two minutes of the proceedings.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• 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.