ISLAMABAD, January 14, 2022: The Senate sitting was adjourned on Friday amid lack of quorum and opposition’s walkout from the proceedings, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the fifth sitting of 317th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for 22 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 10:00 am.
• A member of panel of presiding officers chaired the entire sitting in the absence of chairman and the deputy chairman.
• The leader of the house attended the entire sitting.
• The leader of the opposition was present for 15 minutes.
• The Prime Minister was not present.
• As many as 14 lawmakers (14%) were present at the outset and 15 (15%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PML-N, PkMAP and JI attended the sitting.
• One out of four minority lawmaker was present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up one out of 25 starred questions while a lawmaker asked one supplementary question as well. The remaining questions were not considered due to early adjournment of sitting amid quorum issue.
• The House did not take up six motions under rule 194 (1) seeking extension for presentation of reports of standing committees on matters referred to them.

Order and Institutionalization

• The entire opposition staged walkout from the proceedings at 10:15 am against the remarks of the Minister of state for parliamentary affairs. They did not return to the House till the adjournment of sitting.
• A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum soon after the walkout and the Chair ordered the bells to be rung for five minutes. The quorum was found incomplete upon counting and the House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, January 17, 2022 at 003:00 pm.

Transparency

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