ISLAMABAD, November 01, 2010: The National Assembly did not take up any regular agenda scheduled for the first sitting of the 26^th Session that held on Monday, reports the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on the National Assembly Proceedings.

The agenda was deferred due to the death of a member on October 20, 2010– Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, who won the election, 2008 from NA-172.  The House offered Fateha for the deceased MNA.

The sitting also witnessed an oath taking ceremony of the representative from Chakwal, NA-61. The following are some key observations of the Parliamentary Business:

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for 15 minutes.
• The first sitting started at 1710 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours. The House proceedings started late by 10 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present during the sitting.
• The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 10 minutes, while the Leader of Opposition was present for 13 minutes.
• Only the parliamentary leader of PPPS was present while the leaders of MQM, MMAP, PML, PMLF, ANP, NPP and BNPA were absent.
• The Chief Whips of PPPP, PMLN, PML, ANP and MMAP were present, while the chief whips of MQM, PMLF, NPP and BNPA were absent.
• A total of 42 (12%) members were present at the outset of the sitting, while 80 (23%) members at the end of the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• There were 2 Calling Attention Notices on the Orders of the Day. They were not taken up by the House
• Question Hour was not held.

Output

• There were four Bills on the Orders of the Day. These legislations were not taken up by the National Assembly

Order and institutionalization

• One Point of Order was raised, by a member of PML.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting. However, lack of quorum was not pointed out by any of the members of the National Assembly.

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