ISLAMABAD, September 13, 2017: The third sitting of the National Assembly witnessed lack of interest of lawmakers and had to be adjourned due to missing quorum on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

It was the second time that the sitting had to be adjourned due to lack of quorum.

Following are key observations of the proceedings of the 3^rd sitting of 46^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 47 minutes of which the proceedings remained suspended for 17 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1035 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 37 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 56 minutes.
• Forty-eight lawmakers (14%) were present at the outset and 66(19%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, APML, JI, PPPP, QWP-S, BNP-A and ANP attended the sitting.
• Four minority members were present.

Output

• The House passed the National Commission on the Rights of the Child Bill, 2017 amid protest of the Opposition.
• The House witnessed introduction of the Service Tribunals (Amendment) Bill, 2017 while the Auditor-General’s (Functions, Powers and Terms and Conditions of Service) (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was deferred on request of Opposition Leader.
• A bill – the Rights of Access to Information Bill, 2017 – was taken up by the House but could not be passed due to early adjournment of sitting.
• The House did not take up a motion under Rule 259 and a motion of thanks about Presidential Address.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding long hours of unscheduled power outages in various parts of Sindh.
• Another CAN about non-upgradation of the posts of Superintendents and Assistants in BS-17 and BS-16 respectively was disposed of due to movers’ absence.
• Five out of 43 Starred Questions appearing on the agenda were taken up while lawmakers asked 16 Supplementary Questions.

Order and Institutionalization

• Lawmakers spoke on two Points of Order that consumed 10 minutes of the proceedings.
• The entire Opposition walked out of the House for five minutes over unsatisfactory reply to a question related to the Energy Department.
• The lawmakers belonging to PPPP staged a walk out at 1318 hours against the attitude of the Chair who did not allow one of the lawmaker to speak on a bill. They did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting.

• The sitting remained suspended for 17 minutes when the Chair summoned Secretary Defence in his Chamber for not providing replies to two questions related to his department.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted