ISLAMABAD, March 8: The third sitting of Senate’s 79^th session lasting three hours and 18 minutes on Thursday unanimously passed two bills – the Delimitation of Constituencies Amendment Bill 2011 and the Special Economic Zones Bill 2011. 

Starting 52 minutes late, the Upper House witnessed low attendance of Senators. Only 26 were present when the sitting began and 18 when it closed. The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting. The Parliamentary Leaders of the PPPS, PMLN, ANP, MQM, PKMAP, PMLF NP, JI and BNPA attended the sitting, while the leaders of the JWP and PML were absent.

The House passed the revised Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business as ten retiring Senators made farewell speeches. The chairman of the Standing Committee on Interior presented a report in the House.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for three hours and 18 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1122 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1030 hours. The House proceedings started late by 52 minutes.
• The Chairman chaired the sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the PPPS, PMLN, ANP, MQM, PKMAP, PMLF NP, JI and BNPA attended the sitting, while the leaders of the JWP and PML were absent.
• Twenty six Senators were present at the start and 18 at the end of the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Question Hour was not held during the sitting.
• The House passed the revised Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business.

Output

• The chairman of the Standing Committee on Interior presented a report in the House.
• The House unanimously passed two bills – the Delimitation of Constituencies Amendment Bill 2011 and the Special Economic Zones Bill 2011. 

Order and Institutionalization

• There were no points of order during the sitting.
• 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.

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