ISLAMABAD, February 18, 2017: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lawmakers’ attendance at the Provincial Assembly sessions has been declining since last four parliamentary years, says a report issued by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
The average annual attendance has fallen from 78% during first parliamentary year to 58% during ongoing fourth parliamentary year. Similarly, the average session attendance registered a decrease from 97% during first session to 59% during last (22nd) session. The session average touched the lowest during 21st session when only 50% lawmakers attended a sitting on average.
The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (PAKP) has convened 22 sessions till February 15, 2017 and held 219 sittings during this period. Out of present 123 members of the Assembly, the average attendance in a sitting remained 80 (65%). Similarly, on average each member attended 139 (63%) sittings.
Chief Minister and Revenue Minister Skip More Than 60% Sittings
Women, Minority Lawmakers More Regular than Other Members
The analysis of the official attendance record available on the website of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reveals that women lawmakers were more regular than their other counterparts. Similarly, the minority lawmakers also attended more than 80% sittings of the Assembly.
The party-wise pattern of the lawmakers’ attendance show that the members belonging to JI were more regular than other parties as 57% of them attended more than 160 (73%) sittings during the reporting period. The percentage of other members was 50% in case of QWP-S and 47% in case of JUI-F. Similarly, this percentage further dropped to 36% and 31% in case of PTI and PML-N lawmakers respectively.
The ten most regular members included seven women and a minority lawmaker. These were the lawmakers who attended 88% or more sittings during the span of 22 sessions. On the other hand, the ten lawmakers who attended 40% or fewer sittings included the Chief Minister and the Minister for Revenue.
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