ISLAMABAD, April 9, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan deferred general discussion on education system amid walkout by opposition parties during first private members’ day of its 27^th session on Saturday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Some key observations are as follows:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for 55 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1615 hours against scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• Sixteen (26%) lawmakers were present at the start and 17 (28%) at the time of adjournment of sitting.
• A maximum of 24 (39%) members attended the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The post of Deputy Speaker is lying vacant.
• The Chief Minister was absent.
• Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 45 minutes.
• Parliamentary leaders of MWM, PkMAP, PML and JUI-F were present.
• One minority member attended the sitting.
• Three members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Submitted by NP lawmaker, the House referred an amendment to the rules of procedure and conduct of business of the assembly to relevant committee.
• The House deferred general discussion on development of education system till next session.
• Submitted by JUI-F lawmakers, the House rejected three adjournment motions with majority votes against them. Six members spoke on AM’s for 40 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Members spoke on two Points of Order consuming 4 minutes of the proceeding.
• The opposition parties staged walkout at 1658 hours for rejecting the adjournment motions submitted by JUI-F lawmakers and did not return back to the House. A female lawmaker belonging to NP also staged a token walkout on same issue at 1704 Hours.

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 proceeding conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.