NA Agenda Unaddressed due to Lacking Quorum

ISLAMABAD, November 27, 2015: The National Assembly session was prorogued on Friday whereas the House could not transact 80% of its agenda due to lack of quorum during last sitting of 26th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceeding

  • The National Assembly met for an hour and 40 minutes
  • The sitting started at 1040 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours
  • The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting
  • The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting
  • The Leader of the Opposition was not present
  • 62 MNAs (18%) were present at outset and 52 (15%) at adjournment of the sitting
  • The parliamentary leaders of APML and PML were present
  • Eight minority members were present

Output

  • The Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination introduced the Plant Breeders’ Rights Bill, 2015 on behalf of the State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.
  • He also laid before the House the report on Observance and Implementation of Principles of Policy in relation to the affairs of Federation for the year 2012-2013.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House took up a Calling Attention Notice regarding the prolonged gas load-shedding in Islamabad especially in sector G-7.
  • The House took up 14 of 35 starred questions appearing on the agenda.The members asked 11 supplementary questions as well.

Order and Institutionalization

  • Three members spoke on Points of Order consuming 5 minutes of the proceeding.
  • A male lawmaker belonging to JI staged a walk-out at 1200 hours for fifteen minutes to protest against not being allowed to speak on floor of the House regarding attack on the convoy of Federal Minister for Housing & Works.
  • The same lawmaker returned to the House at 1215 hours and pointed out the quorum following which the opposition also left the House and quorum was found to be incomplete on counting. Then, the Chair announced to adjourn the meeting sine die.

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 proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted