ISLAMABAD, May 25, 2018: The quorum issue persisted in the National Assembly on Friday as the sitting had to be adjourned due to the presence of less than 25 percent lawmakers in the House, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during the 19th sitting of the 56th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for 53 minutes while the sitting remained suspended for 16 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The sitting started at 1116 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for 35 minutes while rests of the proceedings for two minutes were presided over by a member of Panel of Chairpersons.
- The Deputy Speaker did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Opposition Leader was present for ten minutes.
- As many as 43 lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset and 62 (18%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of AJIP, NP, ANP, PPPP, APML, BNP and QWP attended the sitting.
- Three minority lawmakers were present.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) regarding non-implementation on the Petroleum Exploration and Production Policy, 2012 of the Federal Government and non-payment of salaries to the employees of Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP). These CANs were responded to by Ministers for Parliamentary Affairs and Information Technology and Telecommunications
Order and Institutionalization
- Two lawmakers spoke on points of order for two minutes.
- A PkMAP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1151 hours which led to the suspension of the sitting for 16 minutes. After the resumption of sitting at 1207 hours, the Chair asked for counting the members’ requisite strength in the House which was not found to be complete and the House was adjourned to meet again on May 28, 2018 (Monday) at 1500 hours.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
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.
