ISLAMABAD, April 27, 2018: The federal government presented the Finance Bill, 2018 in the National Assembly on Friday along with the Supplementary Demands for Grants and Appropriations for the financial year 2017-18, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the first sitting of the 56^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for an hour and 58 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1643 hours against the scheduled time of 1630 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) attended the entire sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 49 minutes.
• As many as 159 lawmakers (46%) were present at the outset and 118 (35%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JUI-F, JI, PML-F, APML, PML-Z, ANP, PPPP, AJIP, NPP and BNP attended the sitting.
• Eight minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs presented before the House the Finance Bill, 2018 and the Supplementary Demands for Grants and Appropriations for financial year, 2017-2018. His budget speech consumed an hour and five minutes of the proceedings.

Representation and Responsiveness  

•  Minister for Science and Technology moved a motion to suspend the Question Hour, Calling Attention Notices and Points of Order during the budget session which was passed by the House.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Three lawmakers including the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition spoke on four Points of Order consuming 34 minutes of the sitting.
• PTI and PPPP lawmakers staged a walkout at 1732 hours against the government for presenting budget of next fiscal year (2018-19) despite completion of its tenure after 34 days. Later, PTI lawmaker returned to the House at 1739 hours and protested in front of the Chair of Minister for Finance for 18 minutes. They again walked out of the House on the same issue at 1757 hours and did not return till adjournment of the sitting..

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
• The copies of the budget speech were available.

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