• Session Prorogued

ISLAMABAD, October 29, 2020: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan was prorogued on Thursday leaving 73 percent of the agenda unaddressed due to an early adjournment of the sitting after identification of quorum, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fourth sitting of the 28^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 55 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1655 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 25 minutes while the remaining sitting was chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) was not present while the Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 19 (29%) MPAs were present at the outset and 14 (21%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary Leaders of PkMAP, MMAP, BNP-M, ANP and BNP-A attended the proceedings.
• Two minority lawmakers also attended the sitting.

Output

• The House adopted a resolution to condemn the Pakistan Islands Development Authority Ordinance, 2020 and asked the provincial government to take up the issue with the federal government for its withdrawal. Six lawmakers debated the resolution for 35 minutes.
• Six other resolutions on the agenda remained unaddressed due to an early adjournment of the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up eight out of ten starred questions while two questions were deferred due to the ministerial absence.
• Eight lawmakers debated an adjournment motion for an hour and seven minutes regarding abduction of a political worker from the province.
• The Chair deferred two Call Attention Notices on the request of relevant ministers.

Order and Institutionalization

• A BNP-M lawmaker spoke on a point of order for 15 minutes which was related to the termination of 116 teachers in Kalat district.
• A BAP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1950 hours that was found incomplete upon counting. Subsequently, the Chair announced to adjourn the session for an indefinite period.

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.

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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