ISLAMABAD, June 19, 2020: The Senate continued debate on a motion to make recommendations to the National Assembly on Finance Bill, 2020, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Friday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 7^th sitting of 299^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 59 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
• As many as 11 lawmakers (10%) were present at the outset and 12 (11%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, ANP, MQM, PkMAP and JI attended the sitting.
• Two out of four minority lawmakers were also present.

Output

• Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue laid the Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the COVID-19 (Prevention of Smuggling) Bill, 2020. The Chairman Senate asked the members to submit recommendations on these Money Bills till June 22, 2020 while relevant Committee would submit its recommendations on them within 10 days.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Ten lawmakers participated in the Budget 2020-21 discussion consuming two hour and 21 minutes.
• Minister for Foreign Affairs gave a policy about strategy of Pakistan against possible Indian aggression to jeopardize peace in the region.
• A PkMAP lawmaker spoke on a matter of public importance for five minutes.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Three lawmakers spoke on points of order for seven minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on June 22, 2020 (Monday) at 1600 hours.

Transparency

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

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.