ISLAMABAD, July 30, 2016: The Balochistan Assembly adopted a resolution and witnessed introduction of a government bill on Saturday during third sitting of 31^st session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 15 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1205 hours against the scheduled time 1100 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• 20 MPAs (31%) were present at outset and 24 (37%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of ANP and PML attended the sitting.
• One minority member attended the sitting.

Output

• The Provincial Minister for Health introduced the Prohibition of Sheesha Smoking Bill, 2016. The bill was referred to the relevant committee.
• The House unanimously adopted a resolution recommending the government to stop electricity load-shedding in all districts of the province and ensure accurate billing of electricity charges.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on eight points of order consuming 24 minutes of the proceeding.
• The lawmakers belonging to JUI-F, PML-N, PkMAP, and ANP staged walkout for eight minutes against electricity load-shedding in the province.
• A lawmaker belonging to JUI-F protested on floor of the House against absence of the Provincial Secretaries in Official Gallery of the Balochistan Assembly.

Transparency

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

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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.