ISLAMABAD, April 16, 2022: The National Assembly on Saturday elected PPPP’s Raja Pervaiz Asharf Speaker of the House, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the 8th sitting of 41st session:

 Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for four hours and 46 minutes.
• The sitting started at 12:36 pm against the scheduled time of 12:00 pm.
• The speaker presided over the proceedings for four hours and 16 minutes while the remaining sitting was initially chaired by a member of panel of chairpersons.
• The leader of the house attended the sitting for an hour and 16 minutes.
• As many as 181 (53 percent) lawmakers were present at the outset and five (two percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PML-N, MQMP, BAP, MMAP, ANP, BNP-M, JWP, GDA and PML attended the sitting.
• Five out of ten minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

• PPPP’s MNA Raja Pervaiz Ashraf took oath after being elected unopposed as the 22nd speaker of the National Assembly. A member of panel of chairpersons administered the oath on Raja Pervaiz Ashraf who was sole contender for the speaker’s position as no other candidate had submitted nomination papers against him.
• Tabled by parliamentary leader of PPPP, the House adopted a resolution to commend the services of late philanthropist Bilquis Edhi.
• The House adopted another resolution to condemn attack on Punjab Assembly’s Deputy Speaker Sardar Dost Muhammad Mazari in the House. The resolution was tabled by a PML-N lawmaker.
• Moved by a PML-N lawmaker, the House adopted a motion to constitute parliamentary committee for joint electoral reforms. A total of five lawmakers were present in the House during the passage of this motion while the speaker was authorized to nominate members from all parliamentary parties in it.
• The House did not take up a resolution for removal of the deputy speaker due to his resignation before the commencement of the sitting.

Order and Institutionalization

• The leader of the house spoke on a point of order for 11 minutes.
• As many as 37 lawmakers made felicitation speeches for three hours and 58 minutes following the oath of newly elected speaker.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, April 18, 2022 at 12:00 pm.

Transparency

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