ISLAMABAD, January 16, 2012: The Sindh Assembly that met for 25 minutes, its 13th sitting of the ongoing session, was adjourned until Tuesday due to the death of PPPP MPA Syed Mohsin Shah Bukhari.

There were a total of 36 Members present at the start of the sitting and 50 at the end.

Only the Parliamentary Leader of the MQM was present while those of PPPP, PMLF, NPP, PML, PMLQ (F-B) and ANP did not attend.

The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for 25 minutes
• The sitting started at 1110 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The proceedings were delayed by an hour and 10 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting.
• The Chief Minister was not present.
• Only the Parliamentary Leader of the MQM was present, while those of PPPP, PMLF, NPP, PML, PMLQ (F-B) and ANP did not attend.
• Thirty-six Members (22% of the total Membership) were present at the start while 50 (30%) were there when the sitting was adjourned.  

Representation and Responsiveness

• Nine questions were on the Agenda but none was taken up.

Output

• No bills were taken up by the House.

Order and Institutionalization

• Only one Point of Order was raised that consumed two minutes.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting. However, it was not pointed out by any of the Legislators.

After successfully observing the proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started the observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate.This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the 13th sitting of the 32nd session of the Sindh Assembly. These reports are released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN