ISLAMABAD, February 23, 2018: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly referred a government bill to the select committee amidst the opposition’s protest and lack of quorum on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during 16^th sitting of the 27^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The KP Assembly met for 25 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1540 hours against the scheduled time 1500 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 26 MPAs (19%) were present at outset and 24 (18%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-N and ANP attended the sitting.
• As many as two minority lawmakers were present during the sitting.

Output

• The House referred the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2018 to the Select Committee.

Representation and Responsiveness

• There was one Starred Question on the Friday’s agenda that remained unanswered due to absence of the concerned lawmaker.
• The Minister for Law responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding rehabilitation of schools in Lower Dir while a CAN regarding provincial text book board remained unaddressed due to absence of the concerned lawmaker.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers did not raise any Point of Order during the proceedings.
• The opposition lawmakers staged a walkout at 1602 hours against referring the KP Public Procurement Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2018 to the select committee instead of voting on the bill. The protesting lawmakers pointed out the quorum as well that led to the adjournment of the sitting at 1605 hours.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, February 26, 2018 at 1500 hours.

Transparency

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

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The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly proceedings conducted by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted.