ISLAMABAD, September 6, 2016: The National Assembly could not address majority of Private Members’ agenda due to low attendance of lawmakers on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of the 35^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 38 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1032 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and three minutes while a member of the Panel of Chairpersons presided over rest of the proceedings as the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 43 minutes.
• Four lawmakers (1%) were present at the outset and 51 (15%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JI, QWP-S and ANP attended the proceedings.
• Five minority members were present.

Output

• The House referred the Federal Public Service Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to the relevant committee.
• The introduction of the Criminal Laws, (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the Pakistan Minorities Rights Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Protection of Minorities, Bill 2016 was deferred on the request of movers while the consideration of the Trade Organizations (Amendment) Bill, 2016 also remained pended. Moreover, the Chair dropped eight bills due to the absence of the movers.
• The members of the Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat presented the reports of the committee on the Compulsory Blood Test for Relatives of Thalassemia Patients (Amendment) Bill, 2014, the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2014, the Islamabad Compulsory Civic Education Bill, 2015, the National Commission for Minority Education Bill, 2015 and the Service Tribunals (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The House condoned the delay in presentation of these reports.
• The reports of the Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges could not be presented due to the absence of the Committee Chairman.
• Moved by JUI-F lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution urging the government to set up separate counters for women in NADRA and Passport offices in Charsadda.
• Three resolutions and a motion to amend the Rules of Procedure were dropped due to absence of the movers while a resolution regarding interest on House Building Advance was deferred on the request of the treasury.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House could not take up Calling Attention Notices and Motions under Rule 259 due to absence of the movers.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 14 Points of Order consuming 118 minutes of the proceedings. They discussed the matters relating to Defence Day, inflation and hanging of JI leaders in Bangladesh.
• A PPPP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1308 hours that led to the adjournment of the sitting at 1310 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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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.