Lack of Quorum Persists in National Assembly for Fourth Day

ISLAMABAD, September 15, 2017: The fifth sitting of the ongoing session of the National Assembly was adjourned for the fourth consecutive day on Friday due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for an hour and six minutes.
• The sitting started at 1039 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 44 minutes while the rest of proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Thirty-eight lawmakers (11%) were present at the outset and 62 (18%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, BNP, PPPP and PML-Q attended the sitting.
• Three minority members were present.

Output

• The Minister for Law and Justice introduced the Supreme Court and High Court (Extension of Jurisdictions to Federally Administered Tribal Areas) Bill, 2017. The bill was opposed by the Parliamentary Leader of PkMAP.
• The House did not take up two government bills, a motion under Rule 259 and a motion of thanks appearing on the agenda.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as seven out of 40 Starred Questions were responded to by the treasury. The lawmakers also asked 20 Supplementary Questions.
• The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices appearing on the agenda.

Order and Institutionalization

• A PkMAP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1143 hours, subsequently head count was made and the quorum was found incomplete that led to the early adjournment of the sitting.

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.

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