KP Assembly Continues Debate on Budget

ISLAMABAD, June 17, 2016: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly continued general discussion on the Provincial Budget 2016-17 on Friday, as ten lawmakers took 87% of the proceedings’ time, reports Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are some key observations of the assembly business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

  • The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly met for 196 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1414 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
  • The House had a break for 18 minutes due to problem in sound system.
  •  Forty-eight members (39%) were present at the start and 35 (28%) at the end of the sitting.
  • The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
  • The Deputy Speaker was also present.
  • The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 100 minutes.
  • The Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
  • Finance Minister was present in entire sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of JI, ANP, PML-N and QWP attended the sitting.
  • Two minority members were present.
  • Four members applied for the leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Ten lawmakers – PPPP (3), PTI (2) and one each of PML-N, ANP, JI, JUI-F and QWP– spoke on provincial budget for 171 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

  • PTI lawmaker walked out of the House against the attitude of the Chair at 1710 hours who did not allow him to debate provincial budget. Few other PTI and Opposition lawmakers also accompanied him and left the House.
  • PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1716 hours but it was found complete upon counting.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
  •  The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceeding conducted by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted