ISLAMABAD, December 26, 2018: The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) passed three government bills on Wednesday while PML-N lawmakers protested against the imprisonment of their Quaid Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during sixth sitting of fourth session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for an hour and 59 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1111 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 10 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 41 members (33%) were present at the start and 50 (40%) at the end of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of ANP and PPPP attended the sitting.
• All of the three minority members were present.

Output                                             

• Moved by the Provincial Minister for Law, the House passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Employees of Transport Department (Regularization of Services) (Amendment) Bill, 2018, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Employees Foundation Bill, 2018 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Employees of the Elementary and Secondary Education Department (Appointment and Regularization of Services) (Amendment) Bill, 2018. The House approved the amendments, moved by the MMAP and ANP lawmakers, to the KP Education Employees Foundation Bill 2018 while the amendments moved to the KP Employees of Transport Department (Regularization of Services) (Amendment) Bill, 2018 were withdrawn.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up 13 out of 15 Starred Questions while one question was deferred due to delay in reply of the government and another lapsed due to absence of concerned lawmaker. The lawmakers asked five supplementary questions as well.
• The House did not address two Adjournment Motions and a Calling Attention Notice.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers belonging to PML-N staged a protest during the proceedings over the court’s verdict sentencing seven-year imprisonment to the party’s Quaid Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. The protest continued for ten minutes and ended with the adjournment of the sitting.
• The House will meet again on Friday, December 28, 2018.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceeding conducted by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted