ISLAMABAD, June 03, 2013: The 14^th National Assembly elected its Speaker and Deputy Speaker during second sitting of the first session called after the general elections. The PMLN nominated legislators were elected as Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively. Both the members received 258 votes each.

The PTI and MQM had also fielded their candidates for both the slots. The PTI candidates, for both positions, received 31 votes each, while the MQM candidates received 23 each.

The Speaker of the outgoing assembly administered the oath to the newly elected Speaker.

The sitting adjourned at 1925 hours to meet again on Wednesday, June 05, 2013 at 1100 hours for the election of the Prime Minister.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for seven hours.
• The sitting started at 1225 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours, witnessing the delay of an hour and 25 minutes.
• The Speaker of the outgoing assembly presided over the proceedings for three hours and 35 minutes while the newly elected Speaker chaired the sitting for three hours and 25 minutes.
• As many as 290 Members were present at the outset of the sitting while 32 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 313 members were present at one point of sitting.
• Fifteen new members took oath.
• Ten minority members attended the sitting.

 

Order and Institutionalization

• Twenty-eight Points of Order were raised which consumed an hour and 53 minutes of the sitting time.

 

Transparency

• Information on members’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI); a member organization of FAFEN