ISLAMABAD, June 27, 2016: The Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Finance Bill 2016 and an amendment to the local government law on Monday during ninth sitting of 22^nd (Budget) session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 36 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1217 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 39 minutes.
• The Finance Minister attended the sitting for two hours and 34 minutes.
• 57 lawmakers (15%) were present at the outset and 50 (13%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the sitting.
• Seven minority members were present.

Output

• The House passed the Punjab Finance Bill 2016. Five lawmakers – PTI (four) and PPPP (one) – discussed the bill for an hour and four minutes while the Finance Minister summed up the discussion in ten minutes.
• The Finance Minister also laid the Schedule of Authorized Expenditure for the year 2016-2017.
• Moved by the Law Minister, the House passed the Punjab Local Government (Fourth Amendment) Bill 2016. Six lawmakers including the minister in-charge discussed the bill for 40 minutes.
• The Law Minister laid before the House the Punjab Civil Courts (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 and also introduced the Punjab Blood Transfusion Safety Bill 2016 and the Punjab Revenue Authority (Second Amendment) Bill 2016.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Moved by a PML-N lawmaker, the House referred a Privilege Motion to the relevant committee.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on two Points of Order consuming as many minutes of the proceedings.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on members’ attendance is available on the 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 excepted.