ISLAMABAD, May 3, 2019: The National Assembly took up only half of its scheduled business on Friday leaving a discussion on the energy situation unaddressed for seventh time during the session, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during ninth sitting of the ongoing (ninth) session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 45 minutes.
• The proceedings started at 1036 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 36 lawmakers (11%) were present at the outset and 89 (26%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of GDA, BAP and PML attended the sitting.
• As many as five out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The Minister for National Food Security and Research responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding purchase of wheat containing dirt by PASSCO in Sindh.
• The Minister and Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Education and Professional Training responded to another CAN regarding admissions in Islamabad’s educational institutions.
• The ministers responded to nine out of 22 Starred Questions during the proceedings. In addition, lawmakers asked 19 supplementary questions as well.
• The House did not take up a Motion under Rule 259 and Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to the Parliament.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as five lawmakers raised Points of Order consuming nine minutes of the proceedings.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on May 6, 2019 (Monday) at 1500 hours.

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’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted