ISLAMABAD, February 26, 2021: The requisitioned session of Balochistan Assembly discussed law and order, increase in prices of petroleum products and challenges after drought in the province, observes the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Friday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first and last sitting of 34^th session requisitioned by the opposition lawmakers:

 Members’ Participation 

• The House met for three hours and 31 minutes: however, the proceedings remained suspended for 21 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1735 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire proceedings in the absence of Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) was not present.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• A newly elected member of the House from JUI-F took oath.
• As many as 34 MPAs (52%) were present at the outset and 15 (23%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of HDP, PkMAP, MMAP and BNP-M attended the proceeding.
• All three minority lawmakers were present.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• Twelve lawmakers participated in debate on law and order, unemployment and inflation, challenges after drought in the province and increase in prices of petroleum products. They spoke on it for two hours and 56 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• A privilege motion of an independent lawmaker was referred to the relevant committee which was regarding non-implementation on a resolution adopted by the House.
• The Session was prorogued sine die.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of the lawmakers was not available to media and observers.

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.