ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: Ten Points of Order were raised during the fifth sitting of the ongoing session consuming the entire sitting time but none of them attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

Unless the Chair gives a formal ruling on a Point of Order, it does not contribute to any assembly output.

The sitting lasted just 30 minutes and witnessed low attendance. There were only 10 Members present at the start and 12 at the end of the sitting.

None of the four Questions on the Orders of the Day were taken up.

The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting. The parliamentary leaders of the PMLN, ANP and JUI (Ideological) were present in the House.

The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for 30 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1135 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours. The House proceedings were delayed by 35 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting. The Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were not present.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the ANP, PMLN and JUI (Ideological) were present, while the leaders of Like Minded Group, PML, BNPA, JUI, and NP were absent.
• Ten Members (15% of total Membership) were present at the start, while 12 (18%) were there when the sitting was adjourned.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The four Questions on the agenda were not taken up by the House.

Output

• No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.

Order and Institutionalization

• Nine Points of Order were raised, which consumed the entire sitting time. However, no Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were 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. However, the lack of Quorum was not pointed out by any of the Members.

After successfully observing the proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started 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 fifth sitting of the 29th session of the Balochistan Assembly. These reports are 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 Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development (CPD), a member organization of FAFEN