ISLAMABAD, April 15, 2016: The National Assembly took its entire business except a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) on Friday during 6th (last) sitting of its 31^st session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The House witnessed low attendance as 42 lawmakers (12%) were present at outset and 39 (11%) at adjournment of the sitting

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for two hours and five minutes.
• The sitting started at 1040 hours against the scheduled time 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 59 minutes while rest of the proceeding was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
• Nine Cabinet Members attended the sitting.
• 42 MNAs (12%) were present at outset and 39 (11%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, BNP-A, AMLP, JI, APML and QWP attended the sitting.
• Eight minority members were present.

Output

• The House passed the Patents (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and witnessed introduction of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• Two Periodical Reports and the Annual Report of the Federal Public Service Commission for the year 2014 were presented.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The government orally replied to eight out of 36 starred questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, the lawmakers also asked 17 supplementary questions.
• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding  inadequate preventive measures to control the disease of allergy in Islamabad, while another CAN about  gas load  shedding  for domestic consumers in  Mirpurkhas and Hyderabad remained unaddressed.

Order and Institutionalization

• Twelve Points of Order consumed 40 minutes 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.