ISLAMABAD, June 12, 2013: The newly-elected government presented its first budget in the 14^th National Assembly as more than two-thirds of the members attended the first sitting, reports Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet based on direct observation of the parliamentary proceedings.

The Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization presented the budget during the first sitting of the second session.

The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were present during the sitting.

The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for two hours.
• The sitting started at 1655 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1630 hours. The House proceedings started late by 25 minutes.
• The Speaker of the House chaired the sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present during the proceedings.
• The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were present during the entire sitting.
• A total of 246 (72%) Members were present at the outset of the sitting, while 255 (75%) at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 303 legislators (89%) were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
• All ten minority Members were present during the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Presenting the budget, the Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization addressed the House for an hour and 48 minutes.

Output

• The Finance Bill 2013 appearing on the Orders of the Day was taken up by the House. The General Debate on the budget will start from Saturday. 
• The report on the ‘Demands of Grants’ was presented before the House.

Order and institutionalization

• No Points of Order were raised during the sitting.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The copies of the budget speech were available to the concerned.

 

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN