ISLAMABAD, March 2, 2016: The Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) welcomes the public release of Members’ attendance by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, terming it as a major step towards parliamentary transparency.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has become the fourth legislature in the country which has opened up its attendance records to the public. In 2015, the two Houses of the Parliament and the Punjab Assembly started releasing attendance records of their Members. FAFEN urges the Sindh and Balochistan Assemblies to follow suit and make public the attendance record of their Members, as well.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has shared the attendance record of all sessions held between June 2013 and January 2016. Such public sharing of attendance records positively correlates with the performance of Members as well as the Assembly. However, the transparency in other aspects of legislatures is also important such as legislative documents, meetings of standing committees, minutes of proceedings, etc.

FAFEN, however, recommends that the Parliament and the four provincial assemblies should amend their rules to provide a regulatory cover to the public release of the Members’ attendance through websites, as administrative and ad hoc measures for transparency may easily be undone with the change in leadership.