ISLAMABAD, June 23, 2021: The National Assembly continued general discussion on the federal budget for the year 2021-22 and 46 lawmakers took part in the debate, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Wednesday.

 Following are key observations of the proceedings during thirteenth sitting of the 34th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for 12 hours and 53 minutes.
• The proceedings started at 11:05 am against the scheduled time of 11:00 am.
• The speaker chaired the proceedings for 27 minutes while the remaining sitting was presided over by three members of panel of chairpersons.
• The deputy speaker was not present.
• The leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• A total of 20 lawmakers (six percent) were present at the outset and 26 (eight percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of BAP and GDA attended the sitting.
• Seven out of ten minority lawmakers were also present during the proceedings.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• Forty-six lawmakers participated in debate on federal budget for the year 2021-22 and consumed 12 hours and 23 minutes of the proceedings.

Order and Institutionalization

• Five lawmakers spoke on points of order for 13 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Thursday, June 24, 2021 at 10:00 am.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions excepted