ISLAMABAD, June 24, 2010: The seventeenth sitting of the 23^rd Session with a relatively high presence of members approved demands for grants for 18 institutions of various ministries and rejected 396 cut motions by a majority vote, reports the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on the National Assembly Proceedings.

The following are some key observations of the Parliamentary Business:

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for 06 hours and 51 minutes.
• The seventeenth sitting started at 1145 Hours against the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours. The House proceedings started late by 45 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 126 minutes, while the remaining sitting was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 91minutes, while the Leader of Opposition was present for 82 minutes.
• The Minister for Finance and Revenue attended the entire sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PML, MQM, PPPS and PMLF were present, while those of PMLN, MMAP, ANP, BNPA and NPP remained absent.
• The Chief Whips of PPPP, PMLN, ANP, MMAP and PPPS were present, while the chief whips of PMLF, MQM, PML, NPP and BNPA were absent.
• As many as 16 members appealed for leave to be absent from the parliamentary sitting.
• A total of 120 (35%) members were present at the start of the sitting, while 126 (37%) members were present at the end of the sitting. Maximum presence of members in the sitting was recorded at 194 (57%).
• The House took a break of 62 minutes on account of prayers and food during the sitting.
• As many as 10 minority members were present during the seventeenth sitting.

Output

• National Assembly accepted by majority the demands for grants for nine institutions/departments of Interior Ministry, five of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and two each of Railways and Water and Power.
• As many as 137 cut motions pertaining to grants to Interior Ministry, 109 to Petroleum and Natural Resources, 60 to Railways and 90 to Water and Power departments/institutions, introduced by opposition parties, were rejected by majority.
• PML withdrew its cut motions pertaining to the ministry of interior.
• As many as four members of PPPP, 31 of PMLN and six PML members spoke on introduced cut motions.

Order and institutionalization

• Two Points of Order were raised, taking up 03 minutes of the House proceedings.
• There was no Adjournment Motion on the Orders of the Day.
• There were two instances of token walkout by the parliamentary party of PMLN. In first instance, the party staged a token walkout for five minutes against the rejection of party’s cut motions pertaining to the grants to Interior Ministry. In second instance, the same party went for two-minute walkout against ‘electricity crisis in Balochistan’.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN