National Assembly: 13 Lawmakers Take Part in Budget Discussion

ISLAMABAD, June 9, 2016: The discussion on the Budget 2016-17 in the National Assembly continued on Thursday during sixth sitting of the National Assembly’s 33^rd session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for five hours and 31 minutes.
• The proceeding remained suspended for 56 minutes due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started at 1105 hours against the scheduled time 1100 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 130 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceeding.
• The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting,
• The Finance Minister attended the sitting for 37 minutes.
• Twelve Federal Ministers were present.
• 40 MNAs (11%) were present at outset and 13 (4%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JI, AMLP, PML-Z, QWP-S and APML attended the sitting.
• Seven minority members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Thirteen lawmakers – seven belonging to PML-N, two to PTI and one each to PPPP, JUI-F, APML and Independent – took part in the general discussion on Budget 2016-17 consuming 219 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 17 Points of Order consuming 35 minutes of the sitting.
• The lawmakers belonging to Opposition parties staged walkout at 1256 hours against disrespectful remarks of the Defence Minister about a woman lawmaker of PTI. Only MQM lawmakers returned to the House at 1415 hours while rest of the Opposition did not come back.
• The proceeding remained suspended for 56 minutes due to lack of quorum pointed out by a PTI lawmaker. An Independent lawmaker also pointed out the quorum at 1258 hours but it was found complete on counting.

Transparency

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

• Information on Members’ attendance is available on National Assembly website.

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.

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