ISLAMABAD, April 11, 2017: The proceedings of the Balochistan Assembly remained suspended for an hour and 23 minutes on Tuesday due to the minimum presence of lawmakers in the House, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

A member of Panel of Chairpersons announced suspension of the sitting only after three minutes of the start of proceedings. The sitting remained suspended from 1649 hours to 1812 hours.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the Assembly’s 38^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and nine minutes.
• The sitting started at 1646 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The sitting remained suspended for an hour and 23 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 43 minutes while a Member of Panel of Chairpersons chaired the proceedings for three minutes.
• The Chief Minister attended the entire proceedings.
• The Leader of the Opposition was absent.
• Nine lawmakers (14%) were present at the outset and 25 (38%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PML-N and PkMAP were present.
• Two minority members also attended the sitting.
• Thirteen members applied for leave.

Output

• The House deferred a bill and a resolution for consideration in any of the next sittings.

Representation and Responsiveness

• All three questions and a Calling Attention Notice on the agenda were deferred.
• The House passed two motions to insert new sub-rules in Rules and Procedure and Conduct of Business for mentioning allocation of time to discuss points of public importance and constitution of Ethics and Advisory Committee.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on eight Points of Order consuming 16 minutes of the proceedings.

Transparency

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

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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.