ISLAMABAD, May 30, 2017: The Senate continued discussion on the Finance Bill 2017 while also transacting its regular business on Tuesday, observes the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings of third sitting of 263^rd session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for four hours and one minute.
• The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The House had a prayer break for 25 minutes.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House was not present while the Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for two hour and two minutes.
• Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, PML-N, MQM, JUI-F, PML and PML-F attended the sitting.
• Fifteen members (14% of the total membership) were present at the outset and 14 (13%) at the end of sitting.
• One minority Senator also attended the sitting.

Output

• Chairman Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat presented the report of the Committee on the issue of advertisement regarding outsourcing airports of the country.
• The House granted 30-day and 60- day extension to the Special Committee on Performance of PIA and the Standing Committee on Communications respectively for presentation of their reports.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Twelve Senators participated in the budget discussion consuming two hours and 22 minutes.
• The House addressed a Calling Attention Notice about shortage of water in Islamabad while a CAN regarding Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance was deferred. The Chair directed the Minister for Defence and the Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs to make a statement on the deferred CAN in next sitting.
• The House deferred an Adjournment Motion regarding occupation of lands by Military and Air Force in Quetta. Two other AMs were not admitted for discussion.

Order and Institutionalization 

• The Leader of the Opposition spoke on a Point of Order consuming six minutes of the proceedings.
• The lawmakers raised seven Points of Public Importance consuming 24 minutes of the proceedings.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
•  The attendance of lawmakers is available on the website.

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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