ISLAMABAD, June 20, 2015: The Sindh Assembly continued to witness low attendance of lawmakers on Saturday, as major part of the sitting was consumed in the debate on Provincial Budget 2015-16, reports Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The sitting started 73 minutes behind the schedule with 37 members (22%) present at the start and 30 (18%) at the time of adjournment. The Chief Minister and the Opposition Leader attended the sitting.

Seventeen lawmakers – nine belonging to PPPP, four MQM,  two PML-F and one each to PML-N and PTI – spoke on the budget that took up 86% (240 minutes) of the proceedings’ time.

MQM lawmakers attended the sitting by wearing black bands on their arms and terming the budget anti-poor. PML-F lawmakers protested twice against the remarks of the treasury benches against the followers of their leadership while minority lawmakers also protested against the PPPP lawmaker for criticizing them. The protests consumed four minutes of the proceedings.

Following are some key observations of the assembly business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for four hours and 39 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1113 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• 37 members (22%) were present at the start while 30 (18%) at the end of the proceedings.
• A maximum of 62 members (37%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 221 minutes while the Deputy Speaker presided over the remaining proceedings.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 75 minutes.
• The Opposition Leader was present for 32 minutes.
• The Finance Minister attended the entire sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-F and PTI were present.
• Five non-Muslim members were present.
• One member applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Seventeen lawmakers – nine belonging to PPPP, four MQM,  two PML-F and one each to PML-N and PTI – spoke on the budget that took up 86% (240 minutes) of the proceedings’ time.

Order and Institutionalization

• Six points of order consumed seven minutes of the sitting.

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 – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.