ISLAMABAD, March 14, 2018: The National Assembly passed two government bills and referred a bill to the relevant Standing Committee on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the 54^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 44 minutes.
•  The sitting started at 1036 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and six minutes while rest of the proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 24 (7%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 13 (4%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JI, BNP-A and APML attended the sitting.
• Five minority lawmakers were also present.

Output

• Tabled by State Minister for Finance, the House passed two government bills including the Establishment of Federal Bank for Cooperatives and Regulation of Cooperative Banking (Repeal) Bill, 2017 and the House Building Finance Corporation (Repeal) Bill, 2017.
• Minister for Defence introduced the Joint Maritime Information Organization Bill, 2018 which was referred to the relevant committee for further consideration.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Law and Justice presented report on the Constitution (Twenty-ninth Amendment) Bill, 2017.
• Chairmen Standing Committees on Commerce and Textile, Railways and Postal Services presented periodical reports of their respective Committees for the period July – December, 2017.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) regarding increase in road accidents on National Highways and non-compliance of the Water Accord 1991. These CANs were responded to by the State Minister for Communication and Minister for Water Resources respectively.
• The House took up nine out of 38 starred questions for answers. In addition, lawmakers asked 21 supplementary questions.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Lawmakers spoke on five matters under Rule 18 consuming 15 minutes of the proceedings.
• MQM lawmakers staged a walkout at 1313 hours for allegedly being harassed by a law enforcement agency. The House was adjourned at 1314 hours to meet again on Thursday (March 15, 2018) at 1030 hours.

Transparency

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