ISLAMABAD, August 27, 2015: The Punjab Assembly witnessed presentation of 11 ordinances amid low attendance of lawmakers on Thursday during 2^nd sitting of its ongoing 16^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The sitting started 79 minutes late with 25 legislators (7%) present at the start and 50 (13%) at the time of adjournment. The Leader of the House and Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.

Minister for Mines and Minerals presented 11 ordinances, which included the Punjab Safe Cities Authority Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Forest (Amendment) Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Local Government (Second Amendment) Ordinance 2015;  the Punjab Drugs (Amendment) Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Food Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Drugs (Second Amendment) Ordinance 2015; the Punjab Special Protection Unit Ordinance 2015;  the Punjab Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2015; the Infrastructure Development Authority of the Punjab Ordinance 2015 and the Punjab Pure Food (Amendment) Ordinance 2015.

Following are some key observations from the House proceedings:

 Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

•  The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and three minutes.
• The sitting started at 1119 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• Twenty-five members (7%) were present at the start and 50 (13%) at the time of adjournment of the sitting.
• Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
• PPPP’s leader was the only one among parliamentary party leaders to attend the sitting.
• Three out of eight minority members attended the proceedings.

 Output

• Minister for Mines and Minerals presented 11 Ordinances in the House.
• The House witnessed presentation of a legislative report.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Five out of 22 starred questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant government departments. In addition, the lawmakers raised eight supplementary questions.
• Four calling attention notices (CANs) on agenda were not taken up by the House due to absence of relevant minister.

Order and Institutionalization

• Lawmakers raised eight points of order which consumed 13 minutes of the sitting.

 Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to legislators, observers and others.

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This 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 excepted.