ISLAMABAD, June 23, 2020 The Sindh Assembly continued general discussion on the Provincial Budget and 21 lawmakers participated in debate, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Tuesday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 5^th sitting of the 10^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for five hours and 20 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1235 hours against the scheduled time of 1200 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for three hours and 10 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leaders of the House did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for three hours and 13 minutes.
• As many as 10 MPAs (6%) were present at the outset and 38 (23%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM and GDA attended the proceedings.
• As many as six out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• A total of 21 lawmakers – PPPP (10), PTI (6), MQMP& GDA (two each) and TLP (one) – participated in the budget debate for four hours and 39 minutes.

 Order and Institutionalization

• An MQM lawmaker protested for four minutes against the Chair’s attitude who did not give him extra time to speak on provincial budget.
• A GDA lawmaker protested for five minutes against PPPP lawmakers who criticized her party.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on June 24, 2020 (Wednesday) at 1200 hours.

  Transparency                                                             

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

This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted