ISLAMABAD, June 4, 2012: Starting 45 minutes late, the second sitting of Senate’s 82^nd session, which met for three hours and eight minutes, witnessed low attendance by Senators on Monday.

With 16 legislators present at the start and 24 when the sitting was adjourned, a maximum of 46 Senators were observed at any time of the sitting.

As the federal budget for 2012-13 was presented in the first sitting, the Leader of the Opposition spoke on it for 77% of the sitting time.

MQM Senators staged a four-minute walkout against the law and order in Karachi.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• Senate met for three hours and eight minutes.
• The sitting started at 1745 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours. The House proceedings started late by 45 minutes.
• The Deputy Chairman chaired the sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition remained present throughout the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of MQM, PMLF, BNPA and ANP attended the sitting.
• Sixteen Senators (15% of total Membership) were present at the start, while 24 (23%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.
• The House took a 30-minute break.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue presented the budget on June 1. After the 18^th amendment, the Senate has 14 days to give recommendations on the budget.
• The Leader of the Opposition spoke on the Finance Bill for two hours and 24 minutes (77%) of the sitting time.

Output

• The Motion regarding the Annual Budget Statement was admitted for debate.

Order and Institutionalization

• Two Points of Order consumed four minutes of the sitting time.
• MQM Senators staged a four-minute walkout against the law and order in Karachi.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Senators’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The copies of the budget speech were available to Senators.

 

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN