ISLAMABAD, June 23, 2013: The Leader of the Opposition in the Balochistan Assembly opened debate on the annual budget 2013-14 speaking for 53 minutes during the second sitting of the second session on Sunday. The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.

Overall, seven MPAs took part in the budget debate including three members of PMLN and one member each of PMAP, NP, JUIF and PML. The debate lasted two hours and five minutes.

Additionally, the Chief Minister, who was present during the entire sitting, lay before the house 27 supplementary grants for the year 2012-13. All grants were approved by the assembly.

The Leader of the Opposition along with his party staged a 51 minute walk out protesting that allocation on the development funds in the provincial budget is much less than that on the non-development funds.

Following are some key observations of the proceedings:

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 25 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1115 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1100 hours, witnessing a delay of 15 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the entiere sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 32 members (52%) were present at the outset while 37 MPAs (60%) – a maximum – were there at the time of adjournment.
• A minority member attended the sitting.
• One member applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Leader of the Opposition started the budget debate speaking for 53 minutes.
• Seven members shared their views on the budget including three members of PMLN who spoke for 31 minutes, followed by a single member each of JUIF (53 minutes), NP (20 minutes), PML (16 minutes) and a PMAP member debated for five minutes.
  

Output

• The Chief Minister presented the demands for 27 supplementary grants for the year 2012-13 before the house. All grants were approved by the assembly.

Order and Institutionalization

• No Point of Order was raised during the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition along with (JUIF) staged a 51 minute walkout over the annual budget.

Transparency

• List of Business was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD), a Member organization of FAFEN.