ISLAMABAD, March 06, 2017: The National Assembly witnessed presentation of 19 committee reports on Monday, while the MQM lawmakers staged a protest over pressure tactics being used against its party workers, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during first sitting of the 40^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for three hours and 10 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1603 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 59 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 38 minutes.
• Twenty-three lawmakers (6%) were present at the outset while 70 (20%) were there at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JI, PML-Z, QWP-S, APML, AMLP and ANP attended the sitting.
• Nine minority members were present.

Output

• A member of the Standing Committee on Communications presented the report of the committee on the Post Office (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• The House witnessed the presentation of 18 periodical reports of the standing committees on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Inter-Provincial Coordination, Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage, Petroleum and Natural Resources, Railways, National Food Security and Research, House and Library Committee, Housing and Works, Interior and Narcotics Control, Science and Technology and Textile Industry.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 14 out of 34 Starred Questions were responded to by the government. The lawmakers also asked 13 Supplementary Questions.
• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice against the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution for not increasing the pension of its retired employees.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 19 Points of Order consuming 90 minutes of the sitting.
• The lawmakers belonging to MQM staged a walkout for six minutes to protest against the pressure being exerted on their workers to join another political party.

Transparency

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

• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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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.