ISLAMABAD, May 19, 2015: The Sindh Assembly during 16^th sitting of its ongoing session on Tuesday adopted a resolution to greet the Zimbabwean cricket team on its historic visit to Pakistan, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The cricket team of Zimbabwe is visiting Lahore after a gap of six years of international cricket in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the House continued its pre-budget debate amid low attendance and participation of lawmakers. The sitting started 56 minutes behind the schedule with 19 lawmakers (11%) at the start and 35 (21%) at the time of adjournment.

Twenty members participated in the pre-budget debate, which ate up 65% of the proceedings’ time.

Following are some key observations of the assembly business:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for six hours and 34 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1056 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for six hours and eight minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by a member of the Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 50 minutes.
• The Opposition Leader was present for three hours and 36 minutes.
• 19 members (11%) were present at the start while 35 (21%) at the time of adjournment.
• A maximum of 85 (51%) lawmakers were present at one point of time.
• The parliamentary leaders of all political parties were present.
• Six out of nine minority members attended the sitting.
• None of the members applied for leave.

Output

• The House adopted a resolution to greet the cricket team of Zimbabwe on its historic visit to Pakistan.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Twenty lawmakers belonging to MQM, PPPP, PML-F and PML-N participated in the pre-budget debate for 257 minutes (65% of the proceedings’ time). Minister for Finance winded up the debate during his 63 minutes speech.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised six points of order that consumed ten minutes of the sitting.
• Minister for Education spoke on a point of personal explanation for 23 minutes.
• MQM members protested for eight minutes against the remarks of Finance Minister regarding deteriorating law and order in Karachi.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the members, observers and the public.
• Information on members’ attendance was available to the observers and the public.

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