NA takes up question hour, leaves rest of agenda unaddressed

ISLAMABAD, November 10, 2021: The National Assembly left its entire agenda unaddressed except question hour on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the fourth sitting of the 38th session:

 Members’ Participation

  • The National Assembly met for an hour and nine minutes.
  • The sitting started at 11:50 am against the scheduled time of 11:00 am.
  • A member of panel of chairpersons presided over the entire sitting in the absence of speaker and the deputy speaker.
  • The leader of the house (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
  • The leader of the opposition was present for 20 minutes.
  • As many as 62 (18 percent) lawmakers were present at the outset and 71 (21 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • Parliamentary leader of PML-N, GDA and PML attended the sitting.
  • Six minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

  • The House did not consider legislative business, four reports of standing committees and two statutory reports.

 Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House took up ten out of 47 starred questions while the lawmakers asked 20 supplementary questions.
  • The House did not take up two calling attention notices and a motion of thanks to the President for his address to the Parliament on September 13, 2021.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, November 12, 2021 at 11:00 am.

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