NA sitting adjourned amid lack of quorum

ISLAMABAD, December 27, 2021: The National Assembly left entire agenda unaddressed and was adjourned due to lack of quorum on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during third sitting of the 39th session:

 Members’ Participation

  • The National Assembly met for an hour and eight minutes; however the proceedings remained suspended for 50 minutes due to lack of quorum.
  • The sitting started at 04:35 pm against the scheduled time of 04:00 pm.
  • The speaker chaired the sitting for 11 minutes while the remaining proceedings was presided over by a member of panel of chairpersons.
  • The deputy speaker did not attend the sitting.
  • The leaders of the house (Prime Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • As many as 51 (15 percent) lawmakers were present at the outset and 61 (18 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • Four minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

  • The House did not take up legislative business, six resolutions seeking extension of as many ordinances, five reports of standing committees and four statutory reports.

 Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House neither observed question hour not took up two calling attention notices.
  • A motion of thanks to the President for his address to both Houses was not taken up.

Order and Institutionalization

  • A lawmaker belonging to PML-N pointed out the quorum at 04:43 pm which was found incomplete upon counting and the proceedings remained suspended for 50 minutes. On the resumption of the proceedings at 05:36 pm, the counting was made again and the quorum was found incomplete.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday, December 29, 2021 at 03:00 pm.

Transparency

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