ISLAMABAD, December 24, 2014: Starting an hour and four minutes behind schedule, the fourth sitting of the Senate’s 109^th session on Wednesday was adjourned after 50 minutes due to lack of quorum in the House, says Free and Fair Election Network in its daily factsheet.

The opposition lawmakers walked out of the sitting over the absence of the Prime Minister, ministers and low interest of lawmakers from the government benches. They did not return to the House till the sitting was adjourned.

An ANP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1550 hours, following which the Deputy Chairman ordered the bells to be rung for five minutes. The chair ordered for the count twice but quorum was found to be incomplete, resulting in the sitting’s adjournment till Friday without taking up any agenda item.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for 50 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1534 hours against the scheduled time of 1430 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and four minutes.
• The Deputy Chairman presided over the entire sitting as the Chairman was absent.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• The Prime Minister was not present.
• Eleven members (11%) were present at the start and only seven (7%) at the adjournment.
• A maximum of 29 lawmakers (28%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and ANP were present.
• Only one minority member attended the sitting.
• Four members applied for leave.

Output

• No agenda item on Orders of the Day was taken up.

Order and Institutionalization

• Four points of order consumed ten minutes of the proceedings’ time.
• The Opposition lawmakers walked out of the sitting at 1547 hours over the absence of Prime Minister, ministers and low interest of lawmakers from the government benches.
• An ANP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1550 hours, after which the Deputy Chairman ordered the bells to be rung for five minutes. The chair ordered for the count twice but quorum was found to be incomplete, resulting in the sitting’s adjournment till Friday.

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This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted