Balochistan Assembly: Last Sitting Marked by Low Attendance of MPAs

ISLAMABAD, September 27, 2012: The Balochistan Assembly, which met for an hour and 40 minutes during the last sitting of the 33rd session, witnessed low attendance of Members.

The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill 2012 was passed by the House. A total of 14 Members were present at the passage of the bill.

Nine Points of Order consumed 30 minutes of the sitting time. None of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling. The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.

Members’ participation in House proceedings

  • The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 40 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1150 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours. The proceedings started 50 minutes late.
  • The Speaker chaired the sitting.
  • The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
  • Only the parliamentary leader of ANP was present.
  • Thirteen (20%) Members were present at the outset while there were 14 (22%) at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 16 Members were present at one point of the sitting.
  • Eleven Members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Three Starred Questions appearing on the Agenda were not taken up by the House.

Output

  • The Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill 2012 was passed by the House. A total of 14 Members were present at the passage of the bill.
  • The House adopted a Resolution on not implementing the Resolutions which were earlier approved by the Balochistan Assembly.

Order and institutionalization

  • Nine Points of Order consumed 30 minutes. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
  • There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.

 Transparency

  • Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
  • Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD), a Member organization of FAFEN.