Balochistan Assembly Takes Step to Amend Rules of Procedure

ISLAMABAD, November 2, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan transacted its entire business and referred an amendment to the Rules of Procedure of Assembly regarding insertion of new section of Calling Attention Notice to the relevant standing committee on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during first sitting of the 35th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 22 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1713 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
  • The post of Deputy Speaker is lying vacant since December 2015.
  • The Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
  • Thirty-five lawmakers (51%) were present at the start and 25 (37%) at adjournment of the sitting.
  • The Parliamentary leaders of PML-N, PkMAP, JUI-F, ANP and NP were present.
  • Thirteen members applied for leave.

Output

  • Tabled by Advisor to Chief Minister on Law and Parliamentary Affairs, the House referred an amendment to the Rules of Procedure of Assembly regarding insertion of new section of Calling Attention Notice to the relevant standing committee.
  • The Chief Minister presented Quarterly Report of the National Finance Commission before the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House deferred eight Starred Questions appearing on the agenda due to the absence of relevant minister.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The lawmakers spoke on eight Points of Order consuming 29 minutes of the proceedings.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
  • Attendance of Members was not made public.

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.