ISLAMABAD, June 19, 2019: The Leader of the Opposition formally opened debate on the Federal Budget 2019-20 in National Assembly on Wednesday, after a consensus was developed between the treasury and the opposition benches not to interfere during speeches and listen to each other’s points of view without creating any hurdle, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during sixth sitting of the 11^th NA session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for seven hours and 13 minutes, however, the proceedings remained suspended for 37 minutes due to prayer break.
• The proceedings started at 1102 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for three hours and four minutes while rest of the proceedings was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Opposition Leader attended three hours and seven minutes.
• A total of 83 lawmakers (24%) were present at the outset and 11 (3%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of ANP, MMAP, PML-N, PPPP, BAP and JWP attended the sitting.
• Seven out of 10 minority lawmakers were also present during the proceedings.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The Leader of the Opposition formally opened debate on the federal budget 2019-20 and spoke for two hours and 29 minutes. The Minister for Power and Petroleum Divisions responded to the speech of the Opposition Leader and spoke for an hour and 28 minutes.
• Ten lawmakers also participated in the budget debate and spoke for two hours and 35  minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Six lawmakers spoke on points of order for ten minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on June 20, 2019 (Thursday) at 1030 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