ISLAMABAD, August 15, 2016: The National Assembly passed the Members, Election Commission (Salary, Allowances, Perks and Privileges) Bill, 2016, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during 11th sitting of National Assembly’s 34th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for three hours and nine minutes.
• The proceedings remained suspended for 32 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1722 hours against the scheduled time of 1700 hours.
• The Speaker presided for an hour and 42 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for 12 minutes.
• Thirty-six lawmakers (11%) were present at outset while 102 (30%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, APML, QWP-S, JI, PKMAP and AMLP attended the proceedings.
• All minority members were present.

Output

• The House passed the Members, Election Commission (Salary, Allowances, Perks and Privileges) Bill, 2016. Three lawmakers – one each of PTI, PPP and PML-N debated the bill consuming three minutes.
• The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs laid third Quarterly Report of the Central Board of Directors of the State Bank of Pakistan on the state of Pakistan’s Economy during 2015-16.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up nine out of 36 Starred Questions appearing on the agenda. The lawmakers also asked 22 Supplementary Question.
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) regarding property destruction in Operations Zarb-e-Azb, Khyber-I and Khyber-2 and problems of tobacco growers.
• The House did not take up Motion of Thanks to the President for his address to the Parliament.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised 14 Points of Order consuming 40 minutes of the proceedings.

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.