ISLAMABAD, June 15, 2013: The Leader of the Opposition opened the debate on the federal budget on Saturday as the second sitting of the ongoing session met for more than seven hours, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings.

Starting 20 minutes late, the Lower House met for seven hours and 22 minutes. The Leader of the Opposition’s speech lasted 87 minutes. One member each from MQM, PTI, PMLN, AML and JI addressed the House for 186 minutes. The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and 45 minutes.

A total of 106 members were present at the outset, while 42 were there at the adjournment. A maximum of 176 members were observed to be present at one point of sitting.

The sitting witnessed two walkouts. Protesting against the imposition of increased GST before the passage of the Finance Bill, the PTI members staged walked out. Their walkout lasted 60 minutes. The JI members also walked out of the House on the same issue. However, they returned to attend the proceedings after 10 minutes.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for seven hours and 22 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1120 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours, witnessing the delay 20 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for four hours and five minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and 45 minutes.
• The Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization attended the sitting for three hours and 35 minutes.
• A total of 106 members were present at the outset, while 42 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 176 members were present at one point of sitting.
• Five minority members attended the sitting.
• Ten members applied for leave.
• The House took a break of an hour and 55 minutes.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• Two Calling Attention Notices appearing on the Orders of the Day were not taken up.

Output

• The Leader of the Opposition opened the general debate on the federal budget. He spoke for 87 minutes.
• One member each from the MQM (80 minutes), PTI (18 minutes), PMLN (51 minutes), AML (30 minutes) and JI (seven minutes) addressed the House for three hours and six minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Fourteen points of order were raised during the sitting which consumed 36 minutes of the sitting time. None of the points of order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• The sitting witnessed two walkouts. Protesting against the imposition of increased GST before the passage of the Finance Bill, the PTI staged a walkout which lasted 60 minutes. The JI members also walked out of the House on the same issue. However, they returned to attend the proceedings after 10 minutes.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.
• Copies of the budget speech were available to the legislators.

 

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI); a member organization of FAFEN