ISLAMABAD, June 09, 2015: The National Assembly opened debate on Federal Budget 2015-16 with the speech of Leader of the Opposition on Tuesday, reports Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
The Leader of the Opposition spoke for two hours and 35 minutes (155 minutes) followed by MQM Parliamentary leader 69 minutes, two PML-N legislators 52 minutes, PTI lawmaker 39 minutes and an Independent legislator 24 minutes.
The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 302 minutes.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings:
- The National Assembly met for seven hours and eight minutes.
- The sitting started at 1009 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours witnessing a delay of nine minutes.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting for 176 minutes while the remaining proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for five hours and two minutes.
- Finance Minister attended the sitting for 207 minutes.
- A total of 34 members (10% of the total membership – 342) were present at the outset, while 36 (11%) were there at the time of adjournment.
- A maximum of 158 members (46%) were present at one point of the sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of MQM, AMLP, PkMAP, APML, QWP, BNP, JI, ANP and JUI-F attended the sitting.
- Eight minority members were present during the sitting.
- Nine members applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Leader of the Opposition opened debate on the Federal Budget 2015-16 and spoke for 155 minutes.
- MQM Parliamentary leader spoke for 69 minutes followed by two PML-N legislators 52 minutes, PTI lawmaker 39 minutes and an Independent lawmaker 24 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Five points of order consumed ten minutes of the sitting.
- Two PTI lawmakers pointed out quorum at 1411 hours, forcing the proceedings to be suspended for six minutes.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.
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The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.
