Law and order and employment quotas in natural resource rich areas were the main concerns of Senators. Almost a third of the 100th session’s duration was spent in the PPPP and ANP led criticisms of government, amid an overall atmosphere of low attendance and participation, says the Free and Fair Election Network in its report based on direct observation of the Senate.
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Only forty percent (152 of 379) of the post-election petitions were decided by the election tribunals by December 31, 2013, with the tribunals falling behind the legally stipulated time of 120 days for the disposal of petitions in at least 181 cases. The election results were officially notified on May 22, 2013, after which the candidates had until July 6 (45 days) to submit petitions with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). There were 14 tribunals constituted across the country to redress election-related complaints by the contesting candidates. The commission received a total of 406 petitions.
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The twenty transformational case studies of the STAEP project in this report chronicle the progress towards achieving governance objectives by raising the citizens’ voice and organizing them effectively with the government officials and elected representatives to realize their agenda of community development. These case studies have been chosen by keeping in mind the principle of proportional representation. The STAEP project operates in 200 National Assembly (NA) constituencies out of total of 272. Ten percent of the NA constituencies have been chosen for the transformational case studies in this report.
DetailsThe 99th session of the Senate was marked by the passage of a private member’s bill and the adoption of four resolutions as senators displayed low interest in the proceedings in terms of their attendance and participation, leaving behind two-fifth of the agenda on the Orders of the Day unaddressed. The objectives of the private member’s bill – the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2013 – moved by an ANP lawmaker, state that “the civil servant holding dual nationality or citizenship of any foreign country should not be entitled for promotion to posts in Basic Pay Scale 20 or equivalent and above, to ensure the loyalty of senior bureaucrats “holding influential and sensitive posts”.
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Some positive steps were taken to enhance citizen’s access to information in the Punjab Assembly in addition to amendments to existing laws during the fifth session. The session was otherwise marked by low interest of members in terms of attendance and participation, says Free and Fair Election Network in its session report based on the direct observation of the session. The Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Bill 2013, which mandates government departments to ensure the provision of information to the citizens was passed in addition to ten amendments to existing laws.
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ISLAMABAD, December 22, 2013: Marked by the boycott of opposition benches over remarks of Federal Interior minister and low attendance of legislators, the 7th session of the National Assembly left 57 % of the agenda items on the Orders of the Day unaddressed, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Preliminary report on…
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Increasing direct representation of religious minorities was proposed in a bill seeking constitutional amendments in the seventh session of the National Assembly, otherwise marked by protests and boycotts against the Interior Minister’s ‘un-parliamentary’ remarks when the opposition aired reservations regarding voting procedures in the 2013 general elections as well as planned moves by the government to privatize institutions like the Pakistan International Airlines, NADRA etc., says Free and Fair Election Network in its session report based on the direct observation of the Lower House. The session saw the introduction of a private member bill which sought amendments in articles 51 and 106 of the constitution to increase the number of seats for religious minorities in the federal and provincial legislatures, and for direct elections to these seats. At present, members of religious minorities are elected to the House indirectly, through a party list system.
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Low interest of the members in participation and addressing agenda items was observed in the sixth session of the National Assembly, says Free and Fair Election Network in its session report based on the direct observation of the proceedings of the Lower House. The sixth session of the National Assembly continued the trend of fifth session of leaving more than half of the agenda unaddressed, low attendance of members, absence of Prime Minister and no passage of legislation.
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The Senate held 10 sittings, starting from October 28 to November 8, 2013, which lasted 14 hours and 22 minutes. On average, each sitting spanned an hour and 26 minutes, with a delay of 72 minutes. With the exception of MQM, the opposition benches boycotted the session over the alleged misconduct of the Federal Minister for Interior. The opposition alleged that during one of the question hours, the Interior Minister had provided inaccurate information to the House on the killings in terrorists’ attacks and urged him to withdraw his statement.
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Only One-fourth (95 of 373) post-election petitions have been decided by the Election Tribunals by October 31, 2013 with Election Tribunals falling behind the legally stipulated time of 120 days for the disposal of a petition in at least 18 cases. The election results were officially notified on May 22 after which the candidates had the time (45 days) until July 6 to submit petitions with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). There were 14 tribunals constituted across the country to redress election-related complaints by the contesting candidates. The commission received 406 petitions in all.
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