ISLAMABAD, February 20, 2012:  The Senate passed the Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Bill 2012 and the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill 2012 during the second sitting of the ongoing session.

The upper House of the Parliament met for three hours and 48 minutes with relatively better attendance of Senators with 22 present at the outset of the sitting while 70 at the end.

Five Points of Order were raised, which consumed 11 minutes of the sitting time. None of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition remained present throughout the sitting.  

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for three hours and 48 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1752 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours. The House proceedings started late by an hour and 52 minutes.
• The Chairman chaired the sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition remained present throughout the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the PMLN, PML, ANP, MQM, PKMAP, NP, JWP, JI and BNPA attended the sitting, while the leaders of the PPPS and PMLF were absent.
• Twenty-two Senators (22% of total Membership) were present at the start, while 70 (70%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.
• The House took a 32-minute break on account of prayers.
  

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Question Hour was not held during the sitting.

Output

• The Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Bill, 2012 and the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2012 were passed.
• The Industrial Relations Bill, 2012 and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2012 (Amendment of Articles 9 and 10) were introduced and sent to the respective Standing Committees.

Order and Institutionalization

• Five Points of Order were raised which consumed 11 minutes of the sitting time. The However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

After successfully observing proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started the observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate.  This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the second sitting of 78th session of the Senate. These reports will be released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN