ISLAMABAD, October 5, 2017: The National Assembly passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2017 on Thursday, while skipping the regular agenda of the day, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The amendment bill will now be sent to the Senate for its passage.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the 47^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for an hour and 23 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1219 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 52 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for 38 minutes.
• As many as 108 (32%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 53 (15%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JI, QWP-S and APML attended the sitting.
• Five minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The Minister for Law introduced the Elections (Amendment) Bill, and moved the House to dispense with the requirements of the Rule 122 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007 in order to take the bill in to consideration. The motion was carried and the House passed the bill after its clause-by-clause consideration. The bill sought to revive the Article 7B and 7C of the Conduct of General Elections Order, 2002 and change the wording of the Form A of the Elections Act, 2017.
• Seven lawmakers took part in the discussion after the passage of the bill, consuming 55 minutes of the proceedings.
• The House did not take up its regular agenda.

Order and Institutionalization

• The Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination and few other PML-N lawmakers staged a walkout from the proceedings for 22 minutes against inclusion of their name in a list of persons having contacts with proscribed organizations. Three lawmakers spoke on the issue for five minutes.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on the National Assembly website.

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted