National Assembly Session Prorogued without Addressing Agenda

ISLAMABAD, April 13, 2018: The National Assembly’s 55th session was prorogued on Friday without transacting any business amidst lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth and last sitting of the 55th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The National Assembly met for 45 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 19 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1040 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • As many as 31 (9%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 49 (14%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JI and APML attended the sitting.

Output

  • The House did not take up any agenda item.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The lawmakers spoke on three Points of Order consuming 14 minutes of the proceedings.
  • A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1106 hours that led to the suspension of the proceedings for 19 minutes. The session was prorogued at 1125 hours when the quorum was found to be incomplete on resumption of the proceedings.

Transparency

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

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.