Lack of quorum leads to adjournment of NA sitting

ISLAMABAD, April 2, 2021: The National Assembly did not take up its regular agenda on Friday except question hour and was adjourned due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of the 31st session:

 Members’ Participation

  • The National Assembly met for an hour and 16 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 11:28 am against the scheduled time of 11:00 am.
  • The deputy speaker presided over the entire sitting in the absence of speaker.
  • The leaders of the house (Prime Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • As many as 51 (15%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 43 (13%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of BAP and GDA attended the sitting.
  • Five minority lawmakers were present.

Output

  • The House did not consider seven government bills, two calling attention notices and as many reports of standing committees, a statutory report and a motion of thanks.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House took up 14 out of 43 starred questions during the question hour. In addition, the lawmakers asked 21 supplementary questions.

Order and Institutionalization

  • A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 11:41 am following which the Chair directed for counting. The quorum was found incomplete and the House was adjourned to meet again on April 5, 2021 (Monday) at 04:00 pm.

Transparency

  • Orders of the day was available to legislators, observers and public.
  • Attendance of lawmakers was available to 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