ISLAMABAD, February 24, 2012: Starting two hours and 20 minutes behind schedule, the first sitting of 35^th session of the Punjab Assembly lasted two hours and 35 minutes.

It witnessed low attendance of Members with only 16 present at the outset and 24 when the sitting was adjourned. The Quorum, visibly lacking, was not pointed out by any of the legislators.

The House adopted three Resolutions. Two Resolutions were regarding Balochistan and the third one was against the burning of Quran incident in Afghanistan by NATO forces.

Out of 27 questions listed for the Question Hour, five were put up and responded to by the relevant ministries. A total of 17 supplementary questions were raised.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 35 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1720 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1500 hours. The House proceedings started two hours and 20 minutes late.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister was not present while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 35 minutes.
• Only the parliamentary leader of the PML attended the sitting while those of MMAP, PMLF and PMLZ were absent.
• Sixteen Members (4% of the total Membershipof369) were present at the start while 24 (7%) were there when the sitting was adjourned.
• Four minority Members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Out of 27 questions listed for the Question Hour, five were put up and responded to by the relevant ministries. A total of 17 supplementary questions were raised.

Output

• No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.
• The House adopted three Resolutions. Two Resolutions were about Balochistan while the third one was against the burning of Quran incident in Afghanistan by NATO forces.
  

Order and Institutionalization

• Seventeen Points of Order were raised during the sitting which consumed 27 minutes.
• 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 Quorum, visibly lacking, was not pointed out by any of the MPAs.

After successfully observing proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started the observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate.  This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the 1st sitting of the 35th session of the PunjabAssembly. These reports are released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization, a member organization of FAFEN