ISLAMABAD, June 20, 2019: The Sindh Assembly continued general discussion on the provincial annual budget which consumed ninety percent of the proceedings, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Thursday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during seventh sitting of the 5^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for six hours and 59 minutes however, the proceedings remained suspended for 17 minutes due to tea break.
• The sitting started at 1205 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 55 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting for an hour and five minutes. A member of Panel of Chairpersons presided the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for five hours and three minutes.
• As many as 46 MPAs (27%) were present at the outset and 52 (31%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, TLP, MQMP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
• Seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Fourteen lawmakers – seven of PPPP, two each of PTI and MQMP and GDA and one of TLP – participated in the general discussion on provincial budget for six hours and one minute.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers belonging to MQMP, GDA and PTI protested twice for ten minutes against the attitude of the Chair for not giving the floor to a MQM and GDA lawmaker.
• The Leader of Opposition spoke on a Point of Order consuming two minutes of the proceedings.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on June 22, 2019 (Saturday) at 1100 hours.

Transparency                                                              

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted