ISLAMABAD, June 21, 2021: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan started debate on the provincial annual budget for the financial year 2021-2022, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the budget 40th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 32 minutes.
• The sitting started at 05:40 pm against the scheduled time of 04:00 pm.
• The speaker presided over the entire sitting while the deputy speaker was also present.
• The leader of the House (Chief Minister) attended the entire proceedings.
• The opposition leader did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 24 MPAs (37 percent) were present at the outset and 30 (46 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of ANP, BNP-A, JWP, HDP and BAP attended the proceedings.
• As many as one out of three minority lawmakers was present.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• Six lawmakers participated in debate on provincial budget for an hour and 11 minutes.
• A privilege motion of BAP and PTI lawmakers was referred to the relevant committee. It was against opposition members, who reportedly disrespected Chief Minister Balochistan during the last sitting.

Order and Institutionalization

• Two lawmakers spoke on points of order for 17 minutes related to death of ex-senator Usman Khan Kakar and protest of the opposition in assembly premises on budget day.
• The House was later adjourned to meet again on Monday, June 22, 2021 at 04:00 pm.

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