• Postpones Vote on 28^th Constitutional Amendment Bill
• Prime Minister Attends Sitting After Almost Two Years

ISLAMABAD, March 22, 2017: The Senate on Wednesday passed the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and postponed approval of 28th Constitutional amendment bill due to lack of required votes, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attended the sitting after a gap of almost two years. Earlier, he appeared in the House of Federation on June 3, 2014, December 31, 2014, January 6, 2015 and April 16, 2015.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 13^th sitting of the 260^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 33 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1110 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the sitting for two hours and 24 minutes, while the rest of proceedings were chaired by a Member of Panel of Presiding Officers.
• Deputy Chairman did not attend the sitting.
• Prime Minister attended the sitting for 28 minutes.
• Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition remained present during the entire sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PML, PPPP, PkMAP, PML-F, PTI, MQM, BNP-M, ANP and NP attended the proceedings.
• Forty-five lawmakers (43% of the total membership – 104) were present at the start and 48 (46%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• Three minority legislators also attended the proceedings.

 Output

• Introduced by Minister for Law, the House passed the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2017. Twelve lawmakers and the Minister for Law spoke on the content of the bill for an hour and 25 minutes.
• Senate also discussed the Constitution (Twenty-eighth Amendment) Bill, 2017 on the revival of military courts. However, voting on the bill was postponed due to lack of required strength of lawmakers in the House. Minister for Law and eight lawmakers spoke on the bill for 62 minutes.

 Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers is available on the website.

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