ISLAMABAD, February 06, 2012:  Witnessing low attendance, the 15^thsitting of the Senate session lasted three hour and 21 minutes on Monday. Only seven Senators were present when the proceedings began while 13 were there at the end of the sitting.

The Calling Attention Notice regarding the failure of Capital Development Authority (CDA) to complete development work in Sector E-12 was taken up. The Motion under Rule 194 about the performance of the OGDC was also debated.

The Regulation of Foreign Contribution Bill 2012 and the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill 2011 were taken up and sent to the respective Standing Committees.

The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition were present during the entire sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for three hours and 21 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1647 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The House proceedings started 47 minutes late.
• The Deputy Chairman chaired the sitting for an hour and 15 minutes while the remaining time was presided over by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of PMLN, MQM, JIP, PMLF, PKMAP, BNPA and the ANP attended the sitting while the leaders of the PML, NP, JWP and the PPPS were absent.
• Seven Senators were present at the start of the sitting while 13 were there when it was adjourned. A maximum of 28 Senators (28%) were present during one point of the sitting.
• Two Senators applied for leave to be absent.
• The House took a 39-minute break for prayers.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Calling Attention Notice regarding the failure of Capital Development Authority (CDA) to complete development work in Sector E-12 was taken up by the House.
• The Motion under Rule 194 about the performance of the OGDC was debated during the sitting.

Output

• The Regulation of Foreign Contribution Bill 2012 and The Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill 2011 were taken up and sent to the respective Standing Committees.

Order and Institutionalization

• One Point of Order consumed three minutes of the sitting time.
• There were no instances of protests, walkouts or boycotts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum, visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting, was not pointed out by any of the Senators.

After successfully observing proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started the observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate.  This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the 15th sitting of 77th session of the Senate. These reports will be released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN