ISLAMABAD, February 12, 2020: The National Assembly continued the debate on country’s economic situation on Wednesday, observes the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during ninth sitting of the 19^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for four hours and six minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 23 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1114 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting an hour and 45 minutes while rest of the sitting was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 21 (6%) members were present at the outset and 65 (11%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PML-N, MMAP, GDA and ANP attended the sitting.
• Seven out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• On behalf of Chairman Standing Committee on Defence, a member of the Committee presented report on the Surveying and Mapping (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
• The House did not consider legislative business, a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) and a motion of thanks.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs responded to a CAN regarding closure of departments like Abandoned Properties Organization and Aik Hunar Aik Nagar by the Federal Government. The Chair referred it to the committee for further deliberation.
• Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue gave a 63-minute statement on economic situation of the country. Three other lawmakers including Minister for Power Division also participated in debate on a motion under Rule 259 regarding economic condition of the country which continued for an hour and 13 minutes.
• The House took up 13 out of 32 starred questions during the question hour while lawmakers asked 23 supplementary questions as well.
• The House passed a motion to suspend the agenda of the next sitting on February 13, 2020 for debate on economic situation.

  Order and Institutionalization 

• PPPP lawmakers protested during the proceedings for four minutes against the remarks of Minister for Power Division about their leadership. The Chair suspended the proceedings due to this protest for 23 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on February 13, 2020 (Thursday) at 1100 hours.

 Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers is available on the National Assembly’s website.

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