Balochistan PA: Points of Order Consume 79% of Sitting Time

ISLAMABAD, January 11, 2016: The Balochistan Assembly did not observe question hour on Monday due to non-formulation of new cabinet and consumed 79% of its second sitting’s time on points of order, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Some key observations are as follows:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

  • The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 29 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1648 hours against its scheduled time of 1600 hours.
  • 32 (47%) lawmakers were present at the start and 25 (37%) at the time of adjournment of sitting.
  • A maximum of 35 (51%) members attended the sitting.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
  • The seat of Deputy Speaker is lying vacant.
  • The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition was absent.
  • Parliamentary leaders of PML, PkMAP, MWM and PML-N attended the sitting.
  • Two minority members attended the sitting.
  • Seven members applied for leave.

Output

  • On behalf of Advisor to Chief Minister on Finance, a PML-N lawmaker presented three audit reports of Auditor General of Pakistan that were referred to the Public Accounts Committee by the House.
  • A lawmaker belonging to PML-N presented a Biannually Monitoring Report of National Finance Commission 2014 before the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Question hour was suspended by the House due to non-formulation of new provincial Cabinet.

Order and Institutionalization

  • Members spoke on 17 Points of Order consuming seventy minutes of the sitting.

Transparency

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

To download the factsheet, click here for English Version, click here for Urdu Version


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.