ISLAMABAD, September 18, 2018: The National Assembly approved formation of a special committee to probe allegations of rigging in General Election 2018 while Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs introduced the Finance Supplementary (Amendment) Bill 2018 in the National Assembly, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Tuesday.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during first sitting of the second session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 13 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1042 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) attended the sitting for an hour and three minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 197 (58%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 102 (30%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, PPPP, MMA, GDA, BNP and BAP attended the sitting.
• As many as six minority members were present.

Output

• Minister for Finance introduced the Finance Supplementary (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and spoke for 41 minutes.
• The House adopted two private members’ resolutions urging the government to construct new dams in the country and install water filtration plants in universities across the country.
• A private member’s bill titled the Home-based Business Opportunities for Destitute Women Bill, 2018 was withdrawn by its mover on the request of the Minister for Human Rights who suggested improvements to the draft of the bill.
• The House did not take up two private members’ bills due to absence of the concerned lawmakers at the time of consideration of these bills.
• A PML-N lawmaker surrendered his right to move the resolution requesting the Speaker to allow the parliamentary leader of BNP to speak on the issue of awarding nationality to refugees.
• The Chair did not take up three resolutions, five motions under Rule 259 and a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) appearing on Orders of the Day.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Prime Minister made a four-minute long statement on his government’s plan to award nationality to the Afghan and Bengali refugees residing in the country since decades.
• The Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination made a brief statement on PTI lawmaker’s CAN regarding existence of polio virus in potable water in the surrounding areas of Nala Lai, Rawalpindi.
• The House adopted a motion to constitute a special committee with the mandate to probe the allegations of rigging in General Election 2018.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as six lawmakers spoke on Points of Order (POs) consuming 14 minutes of the proceedings.
• The lawmakers belonging to BNP staged a 16-minuted walkout over the Prime Minister’s statement on plans to award nationality to the Afghan refugees in the country.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on September 24, 2018 (Monday) at 1630 hours.

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’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.