ISLAMABAD, May 21, 2018: The quorum issue persisted in the National Assembly on Monday as the sitting had to be adjourned due to the presence of less than 25 percent lawmakers in the House, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the 15^th sitting of the 56th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for an hour and three minutes while the sitting remained suspended for 50 minutes due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started at 1531 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Opposition Leader was present for last two minutes.
• As many as 36 lawmakers (11%) were present at the outset and 81 (24%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI, AJIP, NP, ANP and PkMAP attended the sitting.
• Three minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

• The House did not take up the legislative business, standing committees’ report, two Calling Attention Notices and a statutory report.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House did not observe the Question Hour.

 Order and Institutionalization

• An MQM lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1542 hours which led to the suspension of the sitting for 50 minutes. After the resumption of sitting at 1632 hours, the Speaker asked for counting the members’ requisite strength in the House which was not found to be complete and the House was adjourned to meet again on May 22, 2018 (Tuesday) at 1100 hours.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.