NA Leaves Agenda Unaddressed

ISLAMABAD, May 18, 2016: The National Assembly did not take up its agenda except a report on Wednesday during eighth sitting of its 32nd session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

  • The National Assembly met for three hours and 57 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1031 hours against the scheduled time 1030 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting except for last 24 minutes when the Deputy Speaker chaired the proceeding.
  • The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for three hours and 56 minutes.
  • Twelve Federal Ministers attended the sitting.
  • 50 MNAs (14%) were present at outset and 17 (5%) at adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PML-F, ANP, PkMAP, QWP-S, JI, PML and APML attended the sitting.
  • Six minority members were present.

Output

  • Chairman Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reform presented the interim report of the committee. The House condoned the delay in presentation of the report.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House suspended the Question Hour to discuss the statement of the Prime Minister on his family’s offshore businesses. Six lawmakers spoke for three hours and 12 minutes on this subject.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The lawmakers spoke on eight Points of Order consuming 22 minutes of the proceeding. They discussed the issue concerning twenty-second Constitutional Amendment.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.

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.