ISLAMABAD, November 2, 2017: The National Assembly, on Thursday, discussed a proposed constitutional amendment regarding reallocation of the Assembly seats among provinces, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during first sitting of the 48^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for three hours while the proceedings remained suspended for 31 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1622 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 24 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for 57 minutes.
• As many as 54 (16%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 70 (20%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PkMAP, JI, QWP-S, BNP-M, PML-F, NP and APML attended the sitting.
• Eight minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The Minister for Law and Justice introduced the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the House that approved a motion to consider the bill without referring it to the standing committee. Seven lawmakers debated the bill for 15 minutes. The clause-by-clause consideration and passage of the bill was deferred due to disagreement among the parliamentary parties on the bill.
• The government also introduced the Loans for Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Purposes (Amendment) Bill that was referred to the relevant standing committee.
• The House did not take up the Islamabad Healthcare Regulation Bill, 2017.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 10 out of 35 Starred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings. The lawmakers asked 19 supplementary questions as well.
• The Minister for Interior made a policy statement in the House about the recent attack on a journalist in Islamabad.
• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding paramedical staff’s strike in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). A CAN about closure of Pakistan International Airline’s flights to USA from January 2018 was not addressed.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised nine Points of Order consuming 43 minutes of the proceedings.
• A PPPP lawmaker spoke on a Point of Personal Explanation for three minutes.
• An independent lawmaker identified the lack of quorum at 1919 hours that led to the adjournment of the sitting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on the National Assembly website.

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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