Senate Fails to Address Legislative Business amid Protest

ISLAMABAD, April 21, 2017: The Chairman prorogued the Senate session sine die without taking up any legislative business on Friday, as the Senators belonging to the opposition parties agitated against the Prime Minister by standing up and thumping their desks in protest, observes Free and Fair Election Network.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during 10^th sitting of Senate’s 261^st session:

 Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for an hour and 20 minutes.
• The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 10 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 45 minutes.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• Fourteen members (13%) were present at the outset and 65 (64%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MQM, JUI-F, JI, BNP-A, BNP-M, NP, ANP, PkMAP and PML-F attended the sitting.
• Only one minority Senator attended the sitting.

Output

• The Standing Committees on Water and Power; Law and Justice and Defence presented their reports on the issue of energy, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of Article 70) and the matters referred to them by the House, respectively.
• The House granted the Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat 20-day extension to present its report on the Islamabad Capital Territory Senior Citizens Board Bill, 2017.
• The House did not take up the legislative business listed on the Orders of the Day.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House did not take up two Calling Attention Notices, three Points of Public Importance, and discussion on an Adjournment Motion.
• A lawmaker belonging to MQM withdrew his Adjournment Motion (AM) against the government borrowing while another AM was dropped due to the absence of the mover.
• Five Senators spoke on as many Points of Public Importance regarding Supreme Court’s verdict on Panama Papers’ scandal.

Order and Institutionalization 

• Entire opposition staged a protest demanding resignation of the Prime Minister in light of the Supreme Court’s verdict on Panama Papers’ scandal. The protest continued for 15 minutes.

Transparency

• The 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.

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