Senate Sitting Adjourned due to Lack of Quorum

ISLAMABAD, August 29, 2018: The Senate was adjourned on Wednesday due to lack of quorum leaving most of the agenda unaddressed, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during the third sitting of 281^st session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and eight minutes while the sitting remained suspended for 39 minutes due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started two minutes late against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Deputy Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House was present for an hour and 13 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 57 minutes.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
•  Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, PkMAP, PML-F, ANP and PML-N attended the sitting.
• Fifteen members (13% of the total membership – 104) were present at the outset and 16 (15%) at the end of sitting.
• Three minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Chair admitted an adjournment motion for debate which was regarding the excessive use and sale of antibiotics at medical stores.
• The House could not take up any other agenda item except question hour due to early adjournment of sitting.
• The House took up six out of 35 Starred Questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, lawmakers asked 13 supplementary questions.

Order and Institutionalization 

• The entire Opposition walked out of the House against the remarks of Minister for Railways on an issue. A PML-N lawmaker pointed out the quorum soon after this walkout which led to the adjournment of sitting for 39 minutes.
• The Opposition staged another walkout at 1305 hours when they were not allowed to speak about the failure of Result Transmission System in General elections 2018 following a Calling Attention Notice. A PkMAP lawmaker pointed out the quorum after this walkout and the sitting had to be adjourned to meet again on August 30, 2018 (Thursday) at 1100 hours.

Transparency

• ‘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 proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted

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