Senate Starts Debate on Finance Bill

ISLAMABAD, June 15, 2020: The Senate started debate on a motion to make recommendations to the National Assembly on Finance Bill, 2020, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 5th sitting of 299th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for two hours and 21 minutes.
  • The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
  • The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
  • The Deputy Chairman was not present.
  • The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
  • As many as 15 lawmakers (14%) were present at the outset and 17 (16%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, BNP-M, PTI attended the sitting.
  • Two out of four minority lawmakers were also present.

 Representation and Responsiveness

  • Five lawmakers including the Leader of the House and the Minister for Narcotics Control participated in the Budget 2020-21 discussion consuming two hour and 13 minutes.

 Order and Institutionalization

  • A JI lawmaker spoke on a point of order for one minute.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on June 17, 2020 (Wednesday) at 1600 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 proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.