ISLAMABAD, May 28, 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 20^th sitting of the 56th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for 48 minutes.
•  The sitting started at 1524 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 not present.
• As many as 46 lawmakers (13%) were present at the outset and 73 (21%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI, AJIP, QWP and PkMAP attended the sitting.
• Four minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

• Minister for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the President’s Salary, Allowances and Privileges (Amendment) Bill, 2018 which was referred to the relevant committee for further deliberation. Four lawmakers spoke on this bill for nine minutes.
• The periodical reports of Standing Committees on Industries and Climate Change could not be presented due to early adjournment of sitting after quorum issue.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice regarding non-payment of salaries to temporary teachers of Islamabad Model Colleges and schools which was responded to by the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.
• Another notice on the agenda remained unaddressed.
• The House took up one Starred Question on the agenda for answer during the proceedings. In addition, lawmakers asked two supplementary questions.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Lawmakers spoke on ten points of order for 18 minutes.
• MQM lawmakers staged a token walkout from the House over reservations on census results.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1610 hours, subsequently head count was made and the quorum was found incomplete. The Chair adjourned the House to meet again at 1100 hours on Tuesday.

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