National Assembly Leaves 89% Agenda Unaddressed

ISLAMABAD, July 24, 2020:  The National Assembly left 89 percent of its agenda unaddressed on Friday and Minister for Law and Justice briefed the House about an Ordinance included on `Orders of the Day’, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the 11th sitting of 23rd session:

 Members’ Participation

  • The Assembly met for an hour and 27 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1124 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
  • The Deputy Speaker was not present.
  • The Leaders of House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • The Parliamentary Leader of PML-N and PPPP attended the sitting.
  • As many as 49 lawmakers (14%) were present at the outset and 86 (25%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • Five out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.

Output

  • The House did not take up four motions for consideration of as many pending bills in the joint sitting of the Parliament.
  • An ordinance –the International Court of Justice (Review and Re-consideration) Ordinance, 2020 – was not laid in the House. However, the Minister for Law and Justice briefed the House about it and spoke for 18 minutes.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices and a motion under Rule 259 regarding privatization policy of the government.
  • The House took up eight out of 30 starred questions during the question hour while lawmakers also asked 15 supplementary questions.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The House was adjourned to meet again on July 27, 2020 (Monday) at 1600 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