ISLAMABAD, June 18, 2015: The Finance Minister wrapped up the general discussion on Federal Budget 2015-16 during 10^th sitting of the 23^rd session of National Assembly on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The Finance Minister informed the House that 56 out of 92 recommendations forwarded by the Senate have been accepted. Twenty-three lawmakers took part in the budget debate that took up nearly 63% (289 minutes) of the sitting time. The legislators comprise 15 members from PML-N, followed by PPPP and PTI (2 each), one each of PkMAP, MQM, JUI-F and an Independent lawmaker.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for seven hours and 37 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1009 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The House held lunch and prayer break for 60 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 226 minutes.
• The remaining time was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• 18 members (5%) were present at the start and 111 (32%) at the time of adjournment.
• A maximum of 162 members (47%) were present during one point of the sitting.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Opposition Leader attended the sitting for 197 minutes.
• The Finance Minister was present for 18% (81 minutes) of the sitting time.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JI, APML, BNP, QWP and PML-F were present.
• Ten minority members attended the proceedings.
• Eleven members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Finance Minister winded up the general discussion on Federal Budget 2015-16 during his 67-minute speech.
• Twenty-three lawmakers took part in the debate that took up nearly 63% (289 minutes) of the sitting time. The legislators comprise 15 members from PML-N, followed by PPPP and PTI (2 each), one each of PkMAP, MQM, JUI-F and an Independent lawmaker.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised six points of order that consumed 10 minutes of the sitting.

• MQM lawmakers walked out of the House for three hours and 57 minutes against the on-floor statement of the Defence Minister.
• Led by PTI, the entire opposition except MQM walked out of the House for 19 minutes over the remarks of PML-N lawmaker against Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkwa.
• PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1601 hours but it was found complete upon counting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.

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The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.