ISLAMABAD, March 12, 2021: The Senate on Friday elected its Chairman and Deputy Chairman during first day of the new parliamentary year, while 48 Senators took oath earlier in the day, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Senator Sadiq Sanjrani was sworn in as Senate Chairman after he secured 48 votes out of the total 98 votes cast for the seat. Senator Mirza Muhammad Afridi was elected as Deputy Chairman Senate, who secured 54 out of 98 votes cast for the seat.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the first and last sitting of 309th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for nine hours and two minutes. The sitting remained suspended for four hours and four minutes to receive nomination papers for the slots of Chairman and Deputy Chairman after the oath-taking of newly elected Senators
• The sitting started at 1016 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• Ninety-eight members attended the sitting.
• The Senate Chairman was elected with 48 votes against 42 votes secured by the runner-up candidate, while the Deputy Chairman was elected with 54 votes against 44 votes. The Presiding Officer announced rejection of eight votes against the slot of Chairman Senate.
• A PML-F Senator acted as the Presiding Officer for the election of the Chairman.

Order and Institutionalization

• The Session was prorogued sine die.

Transparency

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

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