ISLAMABAD, June 22, 2015: The Advisor to Chief Minister on Finance concluded debate on the Provincial Budget 2015-2016 amid low attendance of lawmakers during the 4^th sitting of 19th session on Monday, reports Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The sitting started 48 minutes behind the schedule with 26 members (40% of the total membership-65) present at the start and 20 (31%) at the time of adjournment.

The Advisor to Chief Minister on Finance took 20 minutes to wind up the debate while 16  lawmakers – PkMAP (6), three each of NP, JUI-F, PML-N and one of PML – shared their views on budgetary proposals in 246 minutes (65% of the proceeding’s time).

Following are some key observations of the proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for six hours and 17 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1548 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours, witnessing a delay of 48 minutes.
• The House had a prayer and Iftar break for 47 minutes.
• 26 members were present at the start and 20 at the end of sitting.
• A maximum of 35 members (54%) were observed to be present at one point during the proceedings.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting while the Opposition Leader was present for 105 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, ANP, PML-N, JUI-F and PML were present.
• Two minority members attended the sitting.
• No members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Advisor to Chief Minister on Finance concluded the debate on provincial budget during his 20-minute speech.
• Sixteen lawmakers – PkMAP (6), three each of NP, JUI-F, PML-N and one of PML – shared their views about budget in 246 minutes.

 Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on legislators’ attendance was not available to the observers and the 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