ISLAMABAD, May 4, 2018: The Senate continued debate on Finance Bill, 2018 and seven lawmakers participated in it consuming 60 percent of the proceedings, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Friday.

Following are key observations of the proceedings of 5^th sitting of 277^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 20 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for 16 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and 53 minutes.
• Parliamentary leaders of PTI, PPPP, BNP-M and PkMAP were present.
• Eighteen members (17% of the total membership) were present at the outset and 16 (15%) at the end of sitting.
• One minority Senator attended the sitting.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• Seven Senators participated in the debate on Finance Bill, 2018 consuming an hour and 24 minutes (60 percent) of the proceedings.
• Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting informed the House about the incident of baton charge by police on a rally of Journalists on the eve of World Press Freedom Day. She made a statement on the issue as asked by the Chairman for 11 minutes while five other lawmakers spoke on it for 15 minutes.
•  Five lawmakers spoke on as many matters of public importance for 20 minutes. 

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.