ISLAMABAD, June 20, 2013: Forty legislators took part in the budget debate during the seventh sitting of the National Assembly’s second session.

Starting 17 minutes late, the National Assembly met for eight hours and 27 minutes. The House took a 75-mintue break.

Eighteen PMLN members, nine PPPP, five each of MQM and PTI, one each of PMLZ and JUIF and an independent member took part in the budget debate. They debated the budget for six hours and 32 minutes.

Two calling attention notices – one regarding inordinate delay in export of citrus (Kinoo) and the other about flood in River Swat at Charsada – were taken up.

The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting for three hours and 53 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by a member of the Panel of Chairpersons.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for eight hours and 27 minutes. There was a break of 75 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1047 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1030 hours, witnessing the delay of 17 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting for three hours and 53 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by a member of the Panel of Chairpersons. The Speaker was not present.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 31 minutes.
• The Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization attended the sitting for 42 minutes.
• A total of 67 members were present at the outset while 35 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 154 members were present at one point of sitting.
• Eight minority members attended the sitting.
• Three members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 40 members – 18 of PMLN, nine of PPPP, five each of MQM and PTI, and one each of PMLZ, JUIF and an independent member – took part in the budget debate. They debated the budget for six hours and 32 minutes.
• Two calling attention notices appearing on the agenda were taken up. One was regarding inordinate delay in export of citrus (Kino), while the other was about flood in River Swat at Charsada and the consequential loss.

Order and Institutionalization

• Eleven points of order consumed 16 minutes of the sitting time.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI); a member organization of FAFEN