ISLAMABAD: The average attendance of legislators per sitting of the National Assembly (NA) declined by 13 per cent over the last five years, according to a Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) report.
Analysis of attendance patterns suggested a link of the declining attendance rate with weak enforcement of parliamentary rules of procedure and general disinterest among political leaders to participate in parliamentary business.
The annual average attendance per sitting declined from 222 (65 per cent) legislators during the first year to 193 (56 per cent) legislators during the fifth year. Similarly, session-wise attendance average fell from 311 (91 per cent) per sitting during the first session in June 2013 to 192 (56 per cent) in the last NA session that was prorogued sine die in March 2018.
According to the official records, each NA sitting was attended by an average of 60 per cent legislators. Only five sittings were attended by 301 or more legislators, while 42 sittings were attended by 251 to 300 legislators.
Around 201 to 250 legislators attended a total of 212 sittings. Between 151 to 200 legislators attended 174 sittings, between 101 and 150 legislators attended another 33 sittings while two sittings were attended by less than 100 legislators.
The attendance also fluctuated during weekdays. The average midweek attendance (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) was higher than the first and last working days of the week (Monday and Friday).
A comparison of the attendance patterns of legislators, the prime minister (PM) and the party chief whips (CW) revealed that average attendance declined during those sittings where the PM and the party CWs were absent.
Similarly, weak application of parliamentary rules regarding leave of absence also seemed to have had a negative impact on attendance. According to the rules of procedure, the lawmakers may lose their seats if they stay absent from the proceedings for 40 consecutive sittings without taking a prior leave from the National Assembly. However, the house did not process motions for de-seating legislators who had remained absent for more than 40 consecutive days during the 2014 protest against the incumbent government.
Rules for taking leaves required lawmakers to submit an advanced application to the NA speaker for leave of absence. Enforcement of this rule remained weak as legislators did not incur any costs on disregarding it, which encouraged the practice of remaining absent from the proceedings without notice. Examination of NA’s verbatim records suggested that at least 13 lawmakers never applied for their leave of absence.
As many as 12 of these lawmakers belonged to the treasury benches of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and one was from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Meanwhile, Federal Ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Asif and Sheikh Aftab, Minister of State Usman Ibrahim, NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi were among those legislators whose applications for leave of absence were never called out during the present government’s tenure. Nevertheless, the speaker and the deputy speaker often had to perform important parliamentary duties in their chambers as well.
Low attendance of legislators during NA sittings had often led the opposition legislators to invoke the quorum rule that required a minimum of one-quarter of the total membership to be present in the NA for taking up business.
Lawmakers drew the attention of the house to the quorum 145 times during 130 sittings since the inauguration of the incumbent assembly. As many as 15 sittings witnessed multiple quorum identifications. A total of 100 sittings had to be suspended or adjourned due to the lack of quorum, while at 45 instances, the required number was completed on the first headcount.
FAFEN’s parliamentary observation revealed that the quorum was visibly lacking at numerous occasions but was ignored by legislators, as well as the chair. According to FAFEN’s observation, 345 (74 per cent) out of 468 sittings commenced and concluded with less than one-fourth of the house membership.