YPF Report.Cdr

PERFORMANCE OF YOUNG PARLIAMENTARIANS June 2016 - May 2017 (Fourth Parliamentary Year) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN FREE AND FAIR ELECTION NETWORK www.fafen.org I www.openparliament.pk I www.parliamentfiles.com +fafenorg @_fafen fafen.org YOUNG MPs SPONSOR 51 LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS DURING 4TH PARLIAMENTARY YEAR Young lawmakers of MQM excel in annual parliamentary performance scorecard 23 legislators stay mum throughout fourth parliamentary year Aliya Kamran of JUI-F most punctual and Hamza Shehbaz of PML-N least punctual among young lawmakers Pakistan has a large section of young population and their Young Parliamentarians representation in the legislatures has also increased in recent years. Forum (YPF), a platform The Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF) of the National Assembly established to assist and comprises 78 lawmakers who are below 40 years of age. The annual develop future political performance statistics showed that as many as 55 out of 78 young leadership of the country lawmakers took part in the proceedings of the National Assembly defines “young during the fourth parliamentary year. The remaining lawmakers did not parliamentarians” as “all contribute to the agenda and debates of the House. Majority of these members who are 40 non-participating lawmakers (17) belonged to PML-N while three were years of age or under at associated with PPPP and one each with MQM, PML-F and the time of election”. Independent group. ACTIVE YOUNG LAWMAKERS 43 As 30 29 20 16 14 Number of MN 6 5 3 3 2 Contribution Calling Points of Questions Bills Resolutions Motion under Presentation Amendments Adjournment Matter of to Debates Attention Order (Starred and Rule 259 of Reports to the Rules Motions Public Notices Unstarred) Importance under Rule 87 The data revealed that the young lawmakers mostly contribute agenda in collaboration with their senior colleagues. They sponsored 100 agenda items in collaboration with their senior lawmakers and 42 on their own. The young lawmakers participated in the legislation as well as oversight functions by sponsoring 51 legislative proposals, 19 resolutions, 57 Calling Attention Notices, 10 Motions under Rule 259, three amendments to the Assembly's Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business and an Adjournment Motion. AGENDA CONTRIBUTION BY YOUNG LAWMAKERS 57 25 26 14 10 5 Number of Agenda Items 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 Bills Resolutions Calling Attention Motion under Amendments to Matter of Public Motion Under Rule Notices Rule 259 the Rules Importance 244(B) under Rule 87 Jointly Individually PERFORMANCE OF YOUNG PARLIAMENTARIANS 1 The MQM young lawmakers were more active in proposing legislation and asking questions than their counterparts from other parliamentary parties. They sponsored 28 Private Member's bills and submitted 241 questions during the reporting period. As many as 16 young lawmakers expressed interest in sponsoring legislation, 14 in moving resolutions, 20 in asking questions and 30 in raising Calling Attention Notices. Moreover, 43 lawmakers took part in the discussions held in the House during the fourth year. ATTENDANCE PATTERN OF YOUNG LAWMAKERS 29 27 As 15 Number of MN 4 2 1 Upto 20 21 - 40 41 - 60 61 - 80 81 - 100 More than 100 Number of Sittings The National Assembly held 97 regular sittings during the fourth parliamentary year while both Houses of the Parliament had five joint sittings. According to official attendance statistics available on the website of the Assembly, on average, every young lawmaker attended 54 out of 102 sittings. Ms. Aliya Kamran who belongs to JUI-F Balochistan was most punctual member who remained present in 101 (99%) sittings. On the other hand, Mr. Hamza Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N lawmaker from the Punjab, was the least punctual among young lawmakers by attending only three sittings. Out of 78, 49 young lawmakers attended more than 51 (50%) sittings. The detailed findings of the report are given below: PERFORMANCE OF YOUNG PARLIAMENTARIANS 2 BACKGROUND The National Youth Policy of the Government of Pakistan drafted in 2008 defined the youth as a period during which a person prepares himself/herself to be an active and fully, responsible member of the society. The policy states that the population in the age group of 15-29 years is taken as the young population. According to the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2015-16, nearly 40 million out of 192 million population is between the age of 15 and 29 years. EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION OF YOUNG LAWMAKERS 40 19 6 5 4 3 1 Bachelors Masters Others Matric Intermediate Middle Primary The 14th National Assembly has a large number of young members including many first-time legislators. A Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF) was established in 2003 consisting of Members of National Assembly who were either 40 years of age or under at the time of their election. The purpose of the Forum is to provide young parliamentarians with a platform where they can share and develop ideas, improve their legislative and leadership skills, and form inter-regional and inter-party networks. PARTY AFFILIATION OF YOUNG LAWMAKERS 42 10 10 8 4 1 1 1 1 PML-N PPPP PTI MQM IND JUI-F PML-F NP NPP Presently, YPF is comprised of 78 members from amongst the Members of National Assembly elected in General Elections 2013. As many as 58 YPF members have been elected to the National Assembly for the first time. The average age of YPF members is 36 years while seven MNAs are under thirty years of age. Majority of these lawmakers are related to agriculture by profession and hold Bachelor's degree. Among major parliamentary parties, MQM has highest percentage (33%) of young lawmakers followed by PTI (30%), PPPP and PML-N (22% each). Out of 19 parliamentary parties including independents, only nine has young lawmakers. The lawmakers belonging to smaller parties JI, PKMAP, PML, ANP PML-Z, APML, QWP-S, BNP-A, AJIP and AMLP are all above forty years of age. PROFESSIONAL OCCUPATION OF YOUNG LAWMAKER 31 13 7 6 6 4 2 Agriculturist Businessman Professional Housewife Others Politics Social Worker 2 2 1 1 2 1 Lawyer Teacher Doctor Student Landlord Labor PERFORMANCE OF YOUNG PARLIAMENTARIANS 3 Young Lawmakers by Gender Young Lawmakers by Election Young Lawmakers by Seat 4% 16 22% 60 18 3 74% 59 Male Female Reserved for Second Time Third Time First Time Women Minority Elected Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has analyzed the on-floor performance of the young lawmakers of the National Assembly who are also members of YPF. FAFEN directly observes the parliamentary proceedings of the National Assembly and has complete database of the parliamentary information since 2008. The following report includes performance records of lawmakers from 33rd session to 43rd session held during fourth parliamentary year of the National Assembly. The lawmakers' participation in legislative, oversight and representative functions of the House has been included in this report. MEMBERS WITH HIGHEST ATTENDANCE 1 2 3 4 5 Mrs. Aliya Kamran Romina Khurshid Alam Marriyum Aurangzeb Surriya Asghar Lal Chand Malhi JUI-F PML-N PML-N PML-N PTI Attended Attended Attended Attended Attended 101/102 83/102 83/102 80/102 79/102 MEMBERS WITH LOWEST ATTENDANCE 1 2 3 4 5 M. Hamza Shehbaz Sharif Muhammad Zain Ellahi Alam Dad Laleka Ch. Muhammad Asim Nazir Ch. Bilal Ahmed Virk PML-N IND PML-N PML-N PML-N Attended Attended Attended Attended Attended 3/102 15/102 17/102 20/102 22/102 PERFORMANCE OF YOUNG PARLIAMENTARIANS 4 INTERVENTION-WISE PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS LEGISLATION The young lawmakers individually or in partnership with their senior colleagues introduced 51 private member bills during fourth parliamentary year. Of these bills, 26 were moved by young lawmakers individually while the remaining 25 were moved in collaboration with lawmakers above 40 years of age. The House passed three of these bills while 26 were sent to the relevant committees for review following their first reading (introduction). As many as seven bills were not granted leave of introduction and were rejected before the introduction. Moreover, four bills were withdrawn by the movers on the request of the treasury and the remaining were not addressed by the House. Out of 78 young lawmakers, 16 showed interest in legislation by sponsoring bills. Seven of these lawmakers belonged to MQM, four to PML-N, one each to PPPP, PTI and JUI-F while one lawmaker was independent. The legislation moved or co-sponsored by young lawmakers included seven Constitutional Amendments that sought to amend the Articles 27, 37, 156, 215 and 218. However, none of these amendments could make their way to the first reading stage as one bill was not granted leave for introduction, two were withdrawn by the concerned lawmaker and four remained unaddressed. The young lawmakers also sponsored 10 amendments to criminal laws. Only four of these amendments were read in the House and referred to the relevant standing committee for review while one was rejected and another was withdrawn. The remaining bills in this category were not addressed by the House. The amendments referred to the committees related to the protection of citizens' right to fair trial and honest investigations by the police. Besides the above-mentioned amendments in criminal laws, the young lawmakers also sponsored amendments in the legislation concerning punishment for rape, anti-terrorism, acid and burn crimes and civil suites. But none of these were considered during the proceedings. The lawmakers initiated legislation on health issues as well and introduced the bills providing for health insurance to disabled persons, rationalization of medical consultancy fees and amendments in the law concerning organ transplant and smoking at public places. Other areas of lawmakers' interest were prohibition of child labor, strengthening anti-corruption mechanisms, witness protection, regulation of fees for technical and medical education, social welfare and institutional reforms.

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