ISLAMABAD, February 11, 2019: The Balochistan Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on Monday to postpone delimitation and local government (LG) elections in the province until introduction of reforms in the LG system across the country, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceeding during first sitting of the eighth session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 17 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1620 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and five minutes while a member of Panel of Chairpersons chaired the rest of the sitting.
• The Leader of the House was present for an hour and 32 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 17 MPAs (26%) were present at the outset while 22 (34%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MMA, PkMAP, ANP and BAP attended the proceeding.
• As many as one out of three minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Tabled by Provincial Minister for Information, the House unanimously adopted a joint resolution demanding the Election Commission of Pakistan to postpone delimitation and local government (LG) elections in the province until introduction of reforms in the LG system across the country. Four lawmakers spoke on it for 24 minutes.
• The House witnessed introduction of two government bills including the Balochistan Essential Education Service Bill, 2019 and Balochistan Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2019. Both bills were referred to the relevant committees for further consideration.
• The House passed the Balochistan Basic Infrastructure Revenue Development Bill, 2019.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up all 12 starred questions related to Ministry of Health. The lawmakers asked 15 supplementary questions as well.
• The House did not start general debate about establishment of medical colleges in Khuzdar, Kech and Lora Lai.
• The Chair admitted two identical motions for debate which were regarding murder of Professor Ibrahim alias Arman Loni in Loralai. Both motions would be discussed in the next sitting after being clubbed.
• The government responded to a Calling Attention Notice to regularize the services of employees of Balochistan Development Authority.

 Order and Institutionalization

• As many as four lawmakers raised Points of Order consuming 11 minutes of the proceeding.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on February 14, 2019 (Thursday) at 1500 hours.

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.

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.