ISLAMABAD, February 17: Starting 58 minutes behind schedule, the second sitting of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly continued to witness low attendance by Members. Only 40 were present at the start and 21 when the sitting was adjourned.

The lack of Quorum was pointed out by a Member that prompted the adjournment of the sitting.

The Chief Minster did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present.  The parliamentary leaders of the PPPS and PML were present.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Assembly met for an hour and 43 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1658 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The House proceedings started late by 58 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting.
• The Chief Minster did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the PPPS and PML were attended the sitting, while the leaders of the PMLN and PPPP were absent.
• A total of 40 Members (32% of total Membership – 125) were present at the start, while 21 (17%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.
• The House took a 34-minute break for prayers.
  

Representation and Responsiveness

• All 10 questions listed for the Question Hour were put up and responded by relevant ministries.
• Eighteen supplementary questions were raised during the sitting. 
  

Output

• Two Bills appearing on the List of Business were not taken up by the House.
  

Order and Institutionalization

• One Point of Order was raised during the sitting.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• List of Business was available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting. The lack of Quorum was pointed out by a Member, which prompted the adjournment of the sitting.

After successfully observing proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started the observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate. This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the second sitting of 23nd session of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.These reports will be released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly proceedings conducted by PAIMAN Alumni Trust, a member organization of FAFEN