ISLAMABAD, April 8, 2016: The National Assembly could not take up most of the agenda due to lack of quorum during second sitting of the 31^st session on Friday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House

• The National Assembly met for five hours and two minutes.
• The sitting started 10 minutes behind the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The House had a prayer break of 81 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 36 minutes while the remaining proceeding was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader were not present.
• Nine cabinet members attended the sitting.
• 43 lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset and 18 (5%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of AML, BNP, APML, JI, PML-Z, QWP and JUI-F were present.
• Ten minority members attended the sitting.
• Twenty-one members applied for leave.

Output

• The Minister for Law introduced two bills, including the Companies (Appointment of Legal Advisors) (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Central Law Officers (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Both the bills were referred to relevant standing committees.
• The Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination presented the Annual Report of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) before the House.
• Another two Government bills remained unaddressed due to lack of quorum.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Minister for Law moved a motion to resume discussion on Panama Leaks. Seventeen lawmakers spoke on the motion for three hours and 12 minutes.
• A Calling Attention Notice jointly sponsored by female lawmakers of PML-N regarding poor performance of Pakistan Cricket Team during the T-20 World Cup, 2016 was responded to by the Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination.

Order and Institutionalization

• A lawmaker belonging to JUI-F pointed out quorum at 1541 hours that was found incomplete upon counting and led to premature adjournment of the sitting.

Transparency

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

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