ISLAMABAD, February 23, 2015: Starting 45 minutes behind schedule, the first sitting of the 16th session of Balochistan Assembly did not take up any question on the agenda related to Education Department due to the absence of minister, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
The sitting was marked by low attendance as 23 members (35%) were present at the outset while 19 (29%) were there at the adjournment of the sitting.
The Leader of the House and his counterpart, Leader of the Opposition, attended the entire sitting.
Following are some key observations of the proceedings:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 33 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1645 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours witnessing a delay of 45 minutes.
- Twenty-three lawmakers (35%) were present at the outset while 19 (29%) were there at the adjournment. A maximum of 27 members (42%) were observed to be present at one point during the sitting.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was absent.
- The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, PML, MQM and JUI-F attended the sitting.
- Two minority members attended the sitting.
- Nine members applied for leave.
Output
- Tabled by the Provincial Minister for Health, the House passed a resolution for issuance of diplomatic passport to Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
Representation and Responsiveness
- None of five Starred Questions (requiring oral answers) on the agenda were taken up due to the absence of Provincial Minister for Education.
Order and Institutionalization
- Nine Points of Order consumed 32 minutes of the proceedings’ time.
- No protests/walkouts/boycotts were witnessed
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.
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The report is based on direct observation of the Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted
