ISLAMABAD, October 9, 2017: The National Assembly addressed its legislative business and discussed the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

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

 Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 17 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1821 hours against the scheduled time of 1700 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 30 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) attended the sitting for 42 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for 26 minutes.
• As many as 65 (19%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 80 (23%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, PML-F, BNP-M and APML attended the sitting.
• Six minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The government introduced the Federal Employees Benevolent Fund and Group Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The House referred the bill to the relevant committee.
• The Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Human Rights presented the report of the committee on the Women in Distress and Detention Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The House condoned the delay in the presentation of the report.
• Moved by the Minister for Postal Services, the House adopted a resolution to commemorate the World Post Day.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as five out of 35 Starred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings. The lawmakers also asked 12 supplementary questions.
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices regarding delay in the construction of Baba Guru Nanak International University and increase in the prices of Petroleum products. The Prime Minister also made a statement on the increase in the petroleum prices.
• The House did not hold discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to the Parliament.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on seven Points of Order consuming 38 minutes of the proceedings.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 2034 hours which led to the adjournment of the sitting.

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