NA Session Prorogued Amid Lack of Quorum

ISLAMABAD, October 2, 2019: The National Assembly was prorogued sine die on Wednesday amidst a lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third and last sitting of the 15^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for 11 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1141 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• A member of Panel of Chairpersons presided over the entire sitting in the absence of Speaker.
• The Deputy Speaker has been de-seated following decision of an election tribunal of the Balochistan High Court on September 27, 2019. As per Rule 11 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in National Assembly 2007, an election to the vacant office of Speaker of Deputy Speaker will be held as soon as possible during the session if the Assembly is in session and at commencement of its next session if the Assembly is not in session.
• The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 51 (15%) were present at the outset and 54 (16%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of GDA and MQM attended the sitting.
• Four out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The House did not take up any agenda item appearing on `Orders of the Day’.

Order and Institutionalization

• A BNP lawmaker pointed out the lack of quorum at 1147 hours that led to the prorogation of the session as the attendance of lawmakers was found less than the required strength (i.e. one-fourth of total membership) after counting.
• The Session was prorogued sine die.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of the lawmakers is available on the National Assembly’s website.

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

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