ISLAMABAD, March 16, 2017: The National Assembly on Thursday discussed census-related issues and took up a Calling Attention Notice on the shortage of life saving drugs in the country, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during ninth sitting of the 40^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 50 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1034 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 58 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 attended the sitting for three minutes.
• Twenty-five lawmakers (7%) were present at the outset and 40 (11%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, ANP, JI, AMLP, QWP-S, PML-Z and BNP-A attended the sitting.
• Seven minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• On behalf of the Chairman Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources, a member of the committee presented the report on lack of transparency in LNG deal.
• The House witnessed presentation of Periodical Reports of the Standing Committees on Defence, Water and Power and Human Rights.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as eight out of 34 Starred Questions were taken up during the Question Hour while the lawmakers asked 17 Supplementary Questions, as well.
• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice regarding shortage of life saving drugs in the country especially in Islamabad, while another CAN was not addressed.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 21 Points of Order consuming 75 minutes of the proceedings. They discussed the matters related to census and the scuffle between PTI and PML-N lawmakers in the Parliament House a few days ago.
• The lawmakers belonging to JUI-F staged a walkout for 18 minutes over census-related issues.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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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.