ISLAMABAD, August 4, 2017: The National Assembly on Friday adopted a motion to constitute a Special Committee to probe the allegations of harassment made by a female lawmaker of PTI against the party’s chairman, observes Free and Fair Election Network.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of the 44^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for an hour and 35 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1135 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and five minutes while the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 87 (25%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 105 (31%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of APML, PkMAP, AMLP, ANP, BNP, JI, PPPP, PML-Z and QWP-S attended the sitting.
• Six minority lawmakers were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House suspended the Question Hour and the regular agenda to discuss the incident of manhandling AMLP lawmaker in the Parliament House premises and a PTI lawmaker’s allegations of harassment against the party’s chairman. Nineteen lawmakers including the Prime Minister spoke on these issues for an hour and 28 minutes.
• The House adopted a motion to constitute a Special Committee of the National Assembly to probe the harassment allegations of a female lawmaker of PTI.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers belonging to PTI, MQM and JI staged a walkout for ten minutes against the incident of manhandling AMLP lawmaker in the premises of the Parliament House.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on the National Assembly website.

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted