NA Sitting Adjourned Over Lack of Quorum

ISLAMABAD, April 14, 2017: The National Assembly was adjourned without addressing the regular business due to lack of quorum on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in the Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of the 41st session:

Members’ Participation

  • The National Assembly met for an hour and 17 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1042 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for 26 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
  • The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • Fifty-seven lawmakers (16%) were present at the outset and 53 (15%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The Parliamentary leaders of JI, APML and PML-Z attended the sitting.
  • Four minority members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • As many as nine out of 39 Starred Questions were responded to by the government. The lawmakers also asked 21 Supplementary Questions.
  • The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices appearing on the agenda.

Order and Institutionalization

  • Lawmakers spoke on four Points of Order consuming eight minutes of the sitting.
  • The lawmakers belonging to PPPP staged a walkout at 1157 hours against the enforced disappearances of party’s loyalists.
  • A PPPP lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1157 minutes that led to the adjournment of the sitting.

Transparency

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

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.