ISLAMABAD, April 30, 2018: The Senate began discussion on the Finance Bill 2018 on Monday and adopted a motion to elect members of the Senate Bodies, observes the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings of second sitting of 277^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for an hour and 45 minutes.
• The sitting started three minutes behind the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for 46 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and 23 minutes.
• Parliamentary leaders of PPP and PkMAP attended the sitting.
• Fifteen members (14% of the total membership – 104) were present at the outset and 17 (16%) at the end of sitting.
• Two minority Senators also attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Two PPPP lawmakers including the Leader of the Opposition and an Independent lawmaker participated in the Budget 2018-19 discussion consuming an hour and 33 minutes.
• Moved by Leader of the House, the House adopted a motion to elect members of Standing, Functional and Special Committees of the Senate as proposed in the lists. It also authorized the Chairman to make changes in the composition of these Committees as and when he may deem fit.

 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