NA Skips Regular Agenda, Discusses Political Issues

ISLAMABAD, November 8, 2019: The National Assembly left its entire agenda unaddressed on Friday and consumed major portion of the proceedings in debate on political issues raised through Points of Order, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of 16th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The National Assembly met an hour and 16 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for five minutes due to a casual break.
  • The sitting started at 1122 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
  • The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
  • The Deputy Speaker was also present.
  • The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • As many as 58 (17%) were present at the outset and 66 (19%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of MMAP, BAN and PML-N attended the sitting.
  • Six out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.

Output

  • The House did not take up the scheduled agenda including three Ordinances, two Calling Attention Notices, a motion of thanks and a statutory report.

 Order and Institutionalization

  • As many as seven lawmakers spoke on Points of Order consuming 59 minutes (78%) of the proceedings’ time.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on November 11, 2019 (Monday) at 1600 hours.

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