ISLAMABAD, February15: Witnessing low attendance, the first sitting of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly lasted 50 minutes on Wednesday. Forty-five Members were present at the outset and 67 at the end of the sitting.

A Resolution calling on the federal government for enacting a law about the Drugs Regulatory Authority was adopted by the House.

The Chief Minster and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting. The parliamentary leaders of the PPPS and PML were present.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Assembly met for 50minutes.
• The sitting started at 1641hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The House proceedings started late by 41minutes.
• The Speaker presided over thesitting.
• The Chief Minster and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of thePPPS andPML wereattended the sitting, while the leaders of the PMLN and PPPPwereabsent.
• A total of 45Members (36% of total Membership -125) were present at the start, while 67 (54%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.
• Oneminority Memberwas present during the sitting.
• Three Members applied for leave to be absent.

Representation and Responsiveness

• A Calling Attention Noticeabout “absenteeism of teachers of Islamic Studies from government schools” was taken up by the House. 

Output

• A Resolution calling on the federal government for an enacting of a law about the Drugs Regulatory Authority was adopted by the House.
• No Bills appeared on the agenda.

Order and Institutionalization

• Points of Order consumed35 minutes (70% of sitting time). However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• List of Businesswas available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting. However, lack of Quorum was not pointed out by any of the Members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

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 first sitting of 23ndsession of the Khyber PakhtunkhwaAssembly. These reports will be 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 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly proceedings conducted by PAIMAN Alumni Trust, a member organization of FAFEN