ISLAMABAD, June 17, 2019: The Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly opened debate on the Provincial Annual Budget for the year 2019-20 on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of the 10^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 44 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1618 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leaders of the House did not attend the proceedings.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and 33 minutes. He was released from NAB custody to attend the House proceedings on production orders issued by the Speaker.
• As many as 90 MPAs (19%) were present at the outset and 60 (16%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and PRHP attended the proceedings.
•  As many as six out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Eight lawmakers – PTI (4), PML-N (3), PML (one) – participated in the budget discussion that continued for two hours and eight minutes

Order and Institutionalization

• The treasury lawmakers chanted slogans for five minutes when opposition leader started his speech.
• As many as nine lawmakers spoke on points of order for five minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on June 18, 2019 (Tuesday) at 1500 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Assembly’s website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Assembly’s website.
  

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The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted