ISLAMABAD, November 17, 2016: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the first foreign dignitary to address the Joint Session of Parliament for the third time, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The Joint Session started on Thursday with the national anthems of both the countries. The Turkish President addressed the House for 27 minutes. President Erdogan earlier addressed the Joint Sessions on May 20, 2012 and October 2009 in the capacity of the Prime Minister of Turkey.

National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq delivered a Note of Thanks on the two-day official visit of Turkish President to Pakistan during his six-minute welcome address.

Following are key observations of the proceedings of 10th Joint Sitting.

Members’ Participation

• The Joint Session lasted for 45 minutes.
• The session started at 1350 hours against the scheduled time of 1330 hours.
• The entire sitting was chaired by the Speaker of National Assembly. The Deputy Speaker was also present in the House.
• The Senate Chairman and the Deputy Chairman attended the entire sitting.
• The Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly also attended the entire sitting. Similarly, the Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader in the Senate were also present during the entire sitting.
• Fifteen federal ministers attended the sitting.
• As many as 284 legislators (64% of the membership) were present at the start while a maximum of 276 (62%) lawmakers were present at the time of adjournment.
• The parliamentary leaders of all parties in the National Assembly were present.
• Eight non-Muslim legislators also attended the session.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Turkish President addressed the House for 27 minutes.

Transparency

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

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.