ISLAMABAD, June 18, 2020: The National Assembly continued general discussion on the Annual Budget 2020-21 on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during ninth sitting of the 22^nd NA session:

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for seven hours and 12 minutes.
• The proceedings started at 1121 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 45 minutes in the absence of the Speaker while rest of the proceedings was chaired by a member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
• A total of 24 lawmakers (7%) were present at the outset and 18 (5%) at the adjournment of the sitting. As per SOPs, 46 lawmakers of the government and 40 members of the opposition parties would attend each sitting during the ongoing budget session while the overall attendance to be marked at the main gate of the National Assembly.
• The parliamentary leaders of ANP, PML-N, BAP and PPPP attended the sitting.
• Four out of 10 minority lawmakers were also present during the proceedings. 

Representation and Responsiveness

• Twenty-four lawmakers took part in the debate on annual budget 2020-21. The discussion continued for six hours and 51 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on June 19, 2020 (Friday) at 1100 hours.

Transparency

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

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