ISLAMABAD, December 22, 2010: The National Assembly unanimously passed the Constitution (Nineteenth Amendment) Bill, 2010 during the course of the third sitting of the ongoing 27^th session.  The passage of Bill took one hour and 36 minutes of the National Assembly proceedings.

The long stretched sitting witnessed relatively better attendance of Members than previous sittings, with 116 Members present at the outset and 108 were present at the end. The relative increase in the Members’ attendance was probably due to the introduction of the bill seeking amendment in the constitution.

A total of 10 Members, including the Prime Minister spoke on the Nineteenth Amendment for 56 minutes during the sitting.

The Bill was tabled on the floor at 1300 Hours and was subsequently passed within an hour and 36 minutes. The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 135 minutes, while the Leader of the Opposition remained present for 112 minutes. The Parliamentary Leader of the ANP and PPPS were present, while leaders of other parties remained absent during this crucial sitting.

The following are some key observations of the Parliamentary Business:

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for four hours and 30 minutes.
• The third sitting started at 1155 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours. The House proceedings started late by 50 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 135 minutes, while the Leader of Opposition was present for 112 minutes.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the ANP and PPPS were present, while the leaders of the PML, MQM, PMLF, BNPA, NPP and MMAP remained absent during the sitting.
• The Chief Whips of PPPP, PML, PMLN and ANP were present, while the chief whips of MMAP, MQM, PMLF, NPP and BNPA were absent.
• A total of 116 (34%) members were present at the outset of the sitting, while 108 (32%) members were present at the end of the sitting.
• Five members applied for leave to be absent from the sitting.
•  A total of nine out of 10 minority members were present during the 3^rd sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• There were two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) on the Orders of the Day. The House did not take up any of the CANs.
• A total of 27 questions were listed to be taken up during the Questions Hour. However, only 11 were raised and responded to by the relevant minister.
• A total of 23 Supplementary Questions were raised in the House during the third sitting.

Output

• National Assembly unanimously passed the Constitution (Nineteenth Amendment) Bill, 2010 during the course of the sitting.
• A total of 10 Members, including the Prime Minister spoke on the Nineteenth Amendment for 56 minutes. Two Members of the PPPP; three Members of the PML; one Independent Member; and one Member each of the PMLN, MQM, ANP and MMAP spoke on the Bill.
• The Nineteenth Amendment Bill was tabled on the floor at 1300 Hours and was subsequently passed in an hour and 36 minutes.

Order and institutionalization

• One Point of Order was raised, consuming 10 minutes of the sitting. However, the Point of Order did not attract Speaker’s ruling.
• There were no instances of Protest, Boycotts or Walkouts during the course of 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 Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN