ISLAMABAD, September 5, 2016: The National Assembly passed two Government bills, including the National Command Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the absence of Opposition parties who were staging walkout against the Prime Minister’s disqualification reference issue, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet on Monday.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during second sitting of the 35^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for three hours and 34 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1701 hours against the scheduled time of 1700 hours.
• The proceedings remained suspended for 22 minutes due to prayer break.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting except for last 25 minutes when the Deputy Speaker chaired the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 54 minutes.
• Twenty lawmakers (6%) were present at the outset while 15 (4%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JUI-F, AMLP, QWP-S, ANP and BNP-A attended the proceedings.
• Eight minority members were present.

Output

• The House passed the National Command Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Plant Breeders’ Rights Bill, 2016.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Science & Technology presented the reports of the committee on the Pakistan National Accreditation Council Bill, 2016 and the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology Bill, 2016.
• Chairmen of the Standing Committees on Science & Technology, Railways, Defence, Water & Power and Cabinet Secretariat presented the Periodical Reports of their committees.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 10 out of 33 Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the government. The lawmakers also asked 14 Supplementary Questions.
• The House also took up two Calling Attention Notices regarding illegal housing societies in Islamabad and removal of top government officials from the Board of Interstate Gas Systems (Pvt.) Limited.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 17 Points of Order consuming 50 minutes of the proceedings.
• The entire Opposition except MQM staged a walkout at 1818 hours for not being allowed to speak on references regarding disqualification of Prime Minister, Imran Khan and others. The Opposition parties except PTI and AMLP returned to the House at 1829 hours while PTI returned at 1903 hours and again walked out at 1940 hours.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1820 hours but it was found complete on counting.

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 National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.