ISLAMABAD, May 15, 2014: The Minister for Local Government staged a walkout from Balochistan Assembly over the prolonged load-shedding in the province during the first sitting of its 10th session on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
The House deferred a resolution moved by JUI-F lawmaker regarding provision of jobs to the educated youth of the province under Balochistan Package till Tuesday due to the absence of the relevant minister.
Following are some key observations of the proceedings:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and 22 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1633 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours, witnessing a delay of 33 minutes.
- Forty-three members were present at the outset while 35 were there at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 32 minutes.
- The parliamentary leaders of NP, PkMAP, PML, MWM and JUI-F were present.
- Eight members applied for leave.
- Two minority members were present during the sitting.
Output
- The House deferred a resolution moved by JUI-F lawmaker regarding provision of jobs to the educated youth under Balochistan Package till Tuesday as the relevant minister was not present in the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The relevant ministers responded to two out of 5 starred questions (requiring oral as well as written replies). Additionally, the lawmakers asked three supplementary questions.
Order and Institutionalization
- Six lawmakers spoke on six points of order consuming 15 minutes of the proceedings.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on legislators’ attendance was not available to the 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
