National Assembly: Ministerial Absence Leads to Suspension of Proceedings

  • Session Prorogued

ISLAMABAD, November 9, 2018: The absence of the federal ministers during Question Hour on Friday led to the suspension of the House proceedings for half an hour, observers Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during 10th and last sitting of the fourth National Assembly session:

 Members’ Participation

  • The National Assembly met for an hour and 47 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 30 minutes due to the absence of federal ministers during the Question Hour.
  • The sitting started at 1055 hours instead of the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
  • The Deputy Speaker did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition was not present during the proceedings.
  • Fifty-two lawmakers (15%) were present at the outset and 85 (25%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of BAP, PPPP, GDA, PML-N and PML attended the sitting.
  • As many as four out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.

Output

  • The House did not take up regular business appearing on the agenda.

 Representation and Responsiveness

  • A PML-N lawmaker moved a Privilege Motion against a NAB official for holding ‘media trail’ of the Opposition Leader. The Speaker said he would inform the House about the admissibility of the motion after taking legal advice.
  • The House took up six out of 56 starred questions. In addition, the lawmakers asked 13 supplementary questions.

  Order and Institutionalization

  • Two lawmakers spoke on as many Points of Order for four minutes.
  • The Chair later prorogued the session sine die.

 Transparency

  • Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
  • Attendance of the 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.