Punjab Assembly Elects Speaker, Deputy Speaker Amidst Protests

ISLAMABAD, August 16, 2018: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab elected its Speaker and the Deputy Speaker on Thursday amidst protests by the PTI and PML-N lawmakers, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of the Assembly’s first session:

 Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for ten hours and 58 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for two hours and 40 minutes for prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1106 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The outgoing Speaker presided over the proceedings for four hours and 48 minutes and the newly elected Speaker for two and a half hours. A member of Panel of Chairpersons presided over the sitting for an hour.
• As many as 296 (80% of the total membership) members were present at the outset and 190 (51%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• As many as 349 lawmakers voted in the election of the Speaker and 348 in the election of the Deputy Speaker.

Election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker

• The House elected PML’s Pervez Elahi and PTI’s Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari as its Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, respectively.
• Pervez Elahi got 201 against 147 votes secured by PML-N nominee for the Speaker while one ballot was rejected.
• Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari got 187 votes against 159 secured by PML-N candidate for the Deputy Speaker while two ballots were rejected.
• The outgoing speaker administered the oath to the Speaker-elect while the Deputy Speaker took oath from the Speaker.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as 21 lawmakers made speeches following the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker consuming 40 minutes of the proceedings.
• PTI lawmakers staged a protest for four minutes against cancellation of a vote during the election of the Speaker.
• PML-N lawmakers protested twice on violation of the ballot’s secrecy and election of PML’s candidate in the Speaker’s election. Their protests continued for one and a half hour. They also staged a walkout from proceedings that continued for 42 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on August 19, 2018 (Friday) at 1100 hours.

Transparency

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

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.

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