FAFEN’S REPORT ON ATTENDANCE AND QUORUM in National Assembly of

June, 2013 - March, 2018

FREE AND FAIR ELECTION NETWORK w w w . f a f e n . o r g I w w w . o p e n p a r l i a m e n t . p k National Assembly: Legislators’ attendance trend declines in five years Enforcement of Assembly's rules, presence of party leaders may improve Legislators' presence in the House FAFEN suggests eight recommendations to reform the parliamentary rules of business EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The average attendance per sitting of National Assembly (NA) legislators declined by 13% over the last five years. Analysis of attendance patterns suggests a link of the falling 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%) legislators during the first year to 193 (56%) legislators during the fifth year. Similarly, session-wise attendance average fell from 311 (91%) per sitting during the first session in June 2013 to 192 (56%) in the last NA session that was prorogued sine die in March 2018. Attendance Patterns: According to the official records, each NA sitting was 101 and 150 legislators while two sittings were attended by an average of 60% legislators. Only five attended by less than 100 legislators. The attendance sittings were attended by 301 or more legislators, while also fluctuated on various weekdays. The average 42 sittings were attended by 251 to 300 legislators. A attendance on midweek days (Tuesday, Wednesday total of 212 sittings had an attendance between 201 and Thursday) is higher than the first and last working and 250 legislators, 174 had an attendance between days of the week (Monday and Friday). 151 to 200 legislators, 33 had an attendance between Relationship between Leaders and Members’ Attendance: A comparison of the attendance patterns of legislators, negative impact on attendance. According to the rules the Prime Minister (PM) and the party Chief Whips (CW) of procedure, the lawmakers may lose their seats if they reveals that average attendance declined during those stay absent from the proceedings for 40 consecutive sittings when the PM and the party CWs were absent. sittings without leave of the Assembly. However, the Similarly, weak application of parliamentary rules House did not process motions for de-seating regarding leave of absence also seems to have a legislators who had remained absent for more than 40

1 consecutive days during the 2014 protest against the government.

No Consequence for Violation of Leave Rules: Rules for taking leaves require lawmakers to submit an Federal Ministers , Khwaja Asif and Sheikh advanced application to the Speaker for leave of Aftab, Minister of State , Speaker Sardar absence. Enforcement of this rule remained weak as and Deputy Speaker legislators did not incur any costs on disregarding it, are among the legislators whose applications for leave which encourages the practice of remaining absent of absence were never called out during five years. As from the proceedings without notice. Examination of the many as 12 of these lawmakers belong to the treasury Assembly's verbatim records suggests that at least 13 benches PML-N and one to PTI. lawmakers never applied for their leave of absence. Weak Rules Governing Quorum: The low attendance often leads the opposition required number was completed on the first headcount. legislators invoking the quorum rule that requires a FAFEN's parliamentary observation reveals that the minimum of one quarter of the total membership to be quorum was visibly lacking at numerous occasions but present in the House for taking up business. was ignored by legislators as well as the Chair. Lawmakers drew the attention of the House to the According to FAFEN's observation, 345 (74%) out of quorum 145 times during 130 sittings since the 468 sittings commenced and concluded with less than inauguration of the incumbent Assembly. As many 15 one-fourth of the House membership. 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

2 RECOMMENDATIONS

Legislators' attendance and their active participation during parliamentary proceedings are crucial for improved functioning and quality outputs of the parliament. Keeping in view the constitutional requirements and the importance of legislators' participation during the proceedings, there is an urgent need to reform the parliamentary rules. Based on the findings of the report, FAFEN recommends that:

Though the National Assembly provides the legislators' attendance on its website, these records do not reflect the actual time a Member spends on the floor of the House. The NA Secretariat should keep 1 records of the actual time spent by Members in proceedings. This information should be publicly available.

Rules should be amended to warrant spontaneous ascertainment of quorum before any vote, particularly 2 on legislation, is undertaken in the House as well as at the outset of every sitting.

Given the positive impact of the presence of the Leader of the House on Members' attendance, Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business should be amended to require the PM to attend a defined number of 3 sittings during each session.

Rules may be amended to regularize penalty against Ministers who do not ensure their or their representative's attendance especially on days when the Orders of the Day includes any agenda relevant 4 to their Ministries.

Rules should be amended to regularize penalty for Members who remain absent from the Assembly session without leave of absence as permissible in the purview of Rule 40 of the Rules of Procedure and 5 Conduct of Business. The rule may include a cut-off date for submission of leave applications, beyond which their salaries and allowances for the days of absence may be deducted.

The informal role of the Chief Whip should be formalized in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of 6 Business. Strict adherence to a parliamentary calendar specifying the dates and timings of sessions and sittings should be included in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in an effort to improve the 7 attendance of legislators.

Constitutional Amendment may be considered to allow for automatic disqualification of members who remain absent for 20 instead of 40 consecutive sittings without compelling reasons allowed through a 8 vote in the House.

3 INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY

This report provides an analysis of the responsibility for maintaining the the attendance of Members of the quorum on any of the presiding National Assembly (NA) from June officers, the government or the 2013 to March 2018. It is based on parliamentary parties. Moreover, the FAFEN's direct observation of the lack of quorum becomes an issue PROCESS OF parliamentary proceedings using a only when it is pointed out by the MARKING robust methodology based on the legislators. If the House conducts its ATTENDANCE Rules of Business. Moreover, the business without the required Legislators mark their report also analyses the official attendance, and no legislator points attendance on a register attendance records (available on the it out, the proceedings tend to available in the House. The NA's website) as well as data remain valid. This condition also daily attendance records are acquired through information applies while voting on pieces of also updated on the Assembly requests. legislation which directly have an website following each sitting. impact on the citizens' lives. If any Legislators' attendance and active Any requests by the legislators legislator identifies the lack of participation during parliamentary for leave of absence from any quorum, the Chair is required to proceedings is a fundamental sitting are voted upon in the adjourn or suspend the proceedings indicator of representation and House. The legislators desiring until the quorum is completed. safeguarding citizens' interests. leave of absence make a Usually, when a legislator points out Moreover, it also ensures that public written application to the the quorum, a headcount of the representatives are keenly Speaker who puts the legislators is conducted. If less than overseeing the government's question to the House. one-fourth of the total membership performance. is present, the Chair suspends the Conventionally, the Speaker Pakistan's Constitution and proceedings or orders for ringing of reads out the requests and parliamentary rules of business have the bells for a certain time period without seeking a vote defined a minimum attendance (customarily for five minutes) to alert declares that the leave is benchmark for the House the Members in the galleries or granted. A member may lose proceedings. Article 55(2) of the parliamentary lobbies to return to seat, if he/she stays absent Constitution of Pakistan, and Rule-5 the House. According to the without the leave of the of the National Assembly's Rules of Assembly rules, the suspension Assembly for 40 consecutive Procedure and Conduct of cannot be longer than an hour. sittings. However, this rule has Business, 2007 explain that an Following the bells or on the never been applied in the attendance of one-fourth of a total resumption of the proceedings, a parliamentary history of membership of the House second headcount is made and if Pakistan. constitutes the quorum of the the required numbers are still National Assembly. The Constitution incomplete, the proceedings are and the rules, however, do not fix adjourned for the next sitting.

4 LEGISLATORS' ATTENDANCE

The 14th National Assembly took Analysis of attendance during sitting during the first session to 192 oath on June 1, 2013 and held 54 different parliamentary years and (56%) in the 54th session. Following sessions comprising 468 sittings. Of sessions illustrates a declining trend graphs shows the annual average these, 99 sittings were held during of the legislators' presence. The attendance and session-wise the first parliamentary year, 92 annual average has declined from average attendance of legislators. during the second, 99 during the 222 (65%) legislators per sitting third, 97 during the fourth and 81 during first year to 193 (56%) during the fifth and last legislators per sitting during the fifth parliamentary year of the incumbent year. Similarly, the session-wise assembly. average fell from 311 (91%) per

Annual Average Attendance

225 222 220

215

210 208 ttendance 205 203

erage A 200 v A 195 193 190 194 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Parliamentary Year

5 LeEgGiIsSlLaAtoTrOs'R ASt't AenTdTaEnNcDeANCE

Session-wise Average Attendance

350 246 300 270 255 206 225 189 250 245 233 231 213 196 240 197 193 311 196 186 216 220 235 190 212 173 203 180 223 203 200 221 175 218 174 214 216 199 200 192 291 172 200 207 226 212 171 239 184 168 179 150 196 186 205 168 159 193 235

Members 100

50

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54

Sessions

Categorized with regards to the attendance. As many as 30 including 18 women. As many as number of sittings that each legislators, including 11 women are six legislators, including one lawmaker attended during the categorized as having an woman, attended less than 10% of reporting period, as many as 12 attendance between 81% and 90%. the sittings. legislators, including five women fall The third category of 71% to 80% in the category of 91% or more attendance has 74 lawmakers, Following graphs show the legislators' attendance in percentages. Legislators' Attendance

91% and Above 12 81% to 90% 30 71% to 80% 73 61% to 70% 63 51% to 60% 54 41% to 50% 39 31% to 40% 35 21% to 30% 17 11% to 20% 10 Less than or equal to 10%

Percentage of Sittings 6 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Numbers of Members

6 LEGISLATORS' ATTENDANCE

Gender-wise Legislators’ Attendance

7 91% and Above 5 19 81% to 90% 11 55 71% to 80% 18 50 61% to 70% 13 45 51% to 60% 9 35 41% to 50% 4 28 31% to 40% 7 centage of Sittings 16 er 21% to 30% 1 P 9 11% to 20% 1 Less than or equal 5 1 to 10% Male Female Number of Members

Calculated regionally, each sitting, on an average, had 111 legislators from Punjab, 40 from Sindh, 28 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 11 from Balochistan, 7 from FATA and one from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Moreover, on an average, seven out of 10 minority legislators also attended each sitting.

Region-wise Average Attendance

Sindh 40 75 FATA 7 12 Punjab 111 183 ICT 1 2 Balochistan 11 17 Region Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 28 43 Minority 7 10 Average Attendance Total Membership Average Attendance/Total Membership

7 LEGISLATORS' ATTENDANCE

The maximum number of legislatorsGender-wise for the re-election Legislators of the Prime Attendance legislators, while in two sittings less (318) was observed to be present Minister after the disqualification of than 100 legislators were present. during the first parliamentary former Prime Minister Muhammad The least number of legislators session in which the election of the by the Supreme present (87 legislators) was Prime Minister took place. Court. A total of 315 legislators witnessed during the 18th session. Subsequently, another large number were present during that session. Following graph exhibits a sitting- of legislators' presence was wise analysis of the legislators' Furthermore, five sittings witnessed observed during the 44th session attendance. an attendance of more than 300

Sitting-wise Attendance

Above 300 5

ers 251 to 300 42 201 to 250 212 151 to 200 174 101 to 150 33 Number of Lawmak Less than 100 2

Number of Sittings

According to the Assembly's Rules number of sittings. Staying absent Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Murtaza of Procedure, the legislators are without the leave of the Assembly is Javed Abbasi never read out an required to make a written violation of the NA Rules of application for the sittings that they application for staying absent from Procedure and Conduct of did not attend. Nevertheless, the the proceedings. These applications Business, 2007 that require a Speaker and Deputy Speaker may are read out by the Speaker during lawmaker to make a written have been performing important the House proceedings. The study application to the Speaker in parliamentary duties in the of the Assembly's verbatim record advance for any absence. Although Chambers. Federal Ministers Ahsan suggests that at least 13 lawmakers the NA rules do not exempt the Iqbal, Khwaja Asif and Sheikh Aftab never applied for the leave of Speaker and the Deputy Speaker as well as the Minister of State absence despite they had skipped a from the leave requirement, as Usman Ibrahim are also among the

8 LEGISLATORS' ATTENDANCE legislators whose applications for out during five years. These table with the number of sittings leave of absence were never called lawmakers are listed below in the they did not attend.

Sittings Not Legislator Constituency Party Attended Abdul Majeed Khan Khanan NA-73 Bhakkar-I PML-N 129 Khel Ahsan Iqbal NA-117 Narowal-III PML-N 318 NA-110 Sialkot-I PML-N 282 Kiran Haider NA-330 Balochistan-I PML-N 7 Maj. Retd. Tahir Iqbal NA-60 Chakwal-I PML-N 142 Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar NA-194 Rahim Yar Khan-III PML-N 265 Malik Ibrar Ahmed NA-54 Rawalpindi-V PML-N 132 Marvi Memon NA-321 Sindh-XIV PML-N 152 Murtaza Javed Abbasi NA-18 Abbottabad-II PML-N 81 NA-47 Tribal Area-XII, Qaisar Jamal PTI 161 Peshawar/Bannu/Kohat/D.I.Khan/Tank/Lakki Sardar Ayaz Sadiq NA-122 -V PML-N 78 NA-57-Attock-I PML-N 7 Usman Ibrahim NA-95 Gujranwala-I PML-N 133

The National Assembly Weekday-wise Average Attendance sittings are rarely held on weekends; normally, the 219 215 House assembles on week 203 211 211 206 days only. Analysis of the 182 week-day wise attendance patterns shows that the average attendance per 95 96 89 85 93 sitting is higher on the sittings held on mid-week days than the first and last working days 2 8 of the week. Friday sittings have the lowest average Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday attendance as compared to other week days. Number of Sittings Average Attendance

9 LEGISLATORS' ATTENDANCE

Various political and parliamentary lawmakers tend to attend the attendance during the discussions happenings also affect the budget sessions' proceedings more on Panama Leaks remained above- legislators' attendance trends. The regularly than other sessions. average with 222 lawmakers, on an Prime Minister's attendance seems During the budget sessions, an average, attended each of the 10 to have an encouraging impact on average 234 legislators attended sittings when this issue was taken the overall attendance in the House. each sitting were present while up in the House. Similarly, on an The average sitting attendance with otherwise as many as 199 average, 253 lawmakers attended Premier in the House is 237 as legislators attended each sitting. the sittings when important compared to 200 when he is not legislation, including four Moreover, the average attendance present. Prime Minister Muhammad constitutional amendments, the on Private Members' days is 202 as Nawaz Sharif had attended 44 Elections Act, 2017, the Prevention compared to 205 in other days of sittings during his term as Leader of of Electronic Crimes Act and the the week. The average attendance the House while his successor Right to Access of Information Act declined to 176 members per sitting has were considered and voted upon. held during 126 days' PTI sit-in attended 10 sittings since his before the Parliament House. The election as PM. Similarly, the

Political/Parliamentary Events and Attendance Trends

468 397

237 235 253 202 205 222 207 204 176

54 69 71 29 7 10 11

Prime Minister Budget During PTI Private Government Consideration of During Discussion Requisitioned Overall Constitutional Amendments is Present Sessions Sit-In Member's Days Days and Other on Panama Issue Session Important Legislation Average Attendance Sittings

The Chief Whip is an informal votes as well as decides that who respective party. A comparison of parliamentary designation in would represent the party during the the major parties' attendance Pakistani parliamentary tradition. He proceedings. The attendance of the patterns with their Chief Whips' or she works to ensure the Chief Whips also seems to have a attendance shows that the average attendance of the party's bearing upon the overall attendance attendance of party members tends lawmakers during debates and of the lawmakers belonging to the to be higher when the Chief Whip of

10 LEGISLATORS' ATTENDANCE the respective party was present in attendance patterns of the five respective Chief Whips. the House than when he or she was major parliamentary parties in absent. Following graph shows the relation to the attendance of their

Chief Whips’ Presence and Members' Attendance

117 117

92

26 25 24 20 20 15 14 10 9 8 9 12

PML-N PTI JUI-F MQM PPPP

Average Attendance when Chief Whip is Present Average Attendance when Chief Whip is Absent Overall Average Attendance

11 QUORUM

Legislators from both sides of the Results of Quorum Identification aisle pointed out the lack of quorum – i.e. less than a quarter of the total membership being present – 145 57 times during a total of 130 sittings. This number is greater than the 45 43 number of times quorum was pointed out during the 13th NA tenure. On 100 instances after the pointing out of quorum, the House ointation of Quorum suspended or adjourned its proceedings, while on 45 instances, After count the After Suspension the Adjournment/Prorogation the quorum was found complete on Quorum was Quorum was found of Sitting/session

the headcount. A total of 57 sittings equency of P found Complete complete r were adjourned due to the lack of F quorum. Category

Majority of the instances (79), the remaining 12 instances, the quorum 22 private members days. Going by House had the Deputy Speaker in was pointed out when a member of the official attendance records, on the Chair when the quorum was the Panel of Chairpersons was an average, 121 (35%) treasury pointed out while on 55 instances, presiding over the proceedings. lawmakers were present on the the Speaker was presiding over the Similarly, the quorum was pointed days when quorum was pointed proceedings of the House. On the out on 108 government days and out.

Presiding Officers at Quorum Identification

Panel of Chairperson 11 Deputy Speaker 79 esiding Official Pr Speaker 55

Frequency of Pointation of Quorum

12 QUORUM

Legislators identified the lack of quorum 19 times during first parliamentary year, seven times during second year, 26 times during third year, 42 times during fourth year and 51 times during the incumbent year. Following graph presents a parliamentary year-wise analysis of indication of quorum.

Quorum Identification Trend

51 42

26 19 ointation of Quorum 7

equency of P 1 2 3 4 5 r F Parliamentary Year

Legislators belonging to opposition parties Quorum Identifying Parties pointed out lack of quorum on 140 instances, while the Treasury benches indicated it on five occasions. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) 70 legislators identified the lack of quorum on 70 instances, Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) 48 times while Independent legislators on 16 occasions. 48 According to FAFEN's parliamentary observation, a total of 345 (74%) out of 468 sittings commenced and concluded with less than one-fourth members present in the ointation of Quorum House. On an average, 57 (17%) legislators were observed to be present at the 16 commencement of each sitting, while 61

(18%) at the adjournment of the sitting. equency of P r F 4 Following figure shows a party-wise analysis of 3 2 1 1 the legislators pointing out the lack of quorum. PTI PPPP IND JI JUI-F MQM PML-N PKMAP Party

13 Parliamentary Leaders in National Assembly

Iftikhar Mehmood Aftab Ahmad Ud Din Khan Achakzai Khan Sherpao

APML PKMAP QWP

362/468 Sittings 369/468 Sittings 326/468 Sittings

Syed Naveed Usman Sahibzada Qammar Khan Tarrakai Tariq Ullah

PPPP AJIP JI

350/468 Sittings 300/468 Sittings 365/468 Sittings

Sardar Kamal Muhammad Syed Khan Ijaz-Ul-Haq Essa Nori Bangulzai

PML-Z BNP NP

288/468 Sittings 172/451 Sittings 141/468 Sittings

14 PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Ghulam Ahmad Ch. Parvez Fazal-Ur- Bilour Elahi Rehman

ANP PML JUI

265/468 Sittings 63/468 Sittings 96/468 Sittings

Sheikh Rasheed Ghulam Murtaza Imran Ahmad Khan Jatoi Khan

AMLP NPP PTI

280/468 Sittings 196/468 Sittings 20/465 Sittings

Pir Syed Dr. Muhammad Saddaruddin Farooq Sattar Shah Rashdi

MQM PML-F

80/468 Sittings 104/468 Sittings

15 MembersMINISTERI AttendanceAL ATTENDANCE

FEDERAL MINISTERS

16 MINISTERIAL ATTENDANCE

MINISTERS OF STATE

17 MINISTERIAL ATTENDANCE

PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES

18 MINISTERIAL ATTENDANCE

19 LEGISLATORS’ ATTENDANCE

TEN MOST REGULAR LEGISLATORS

Begum Kiran Sheikh Aftab Tahira Mrs. Aliya Naeema Haider Ahmed Bukhari Kamran Kishwar Khan

PML-N PML-N PML-N JUI JUI

99% 461/468 99% 461/468 98% 459/468 98% 458/468 97% 452/468 Sittings Sittings Sittings Sittings Sittings

Sardar Mst. Naseema Ch. Asad Ur Rana Shamim Sher Mumtaz Khan Hafeez Panezai Rehman Ahmed Khan Akbar Khan

PML-N PKMAP PML-N PML-N JI

95% 443/468 94% 439/468 93% 435/468 93% 434/219 92% 431/219 Sittings Sittings Sittings Sittings Sittings

TEN LEAST REGULAR LEGISLATORS

Ali Muhammad Imran Mohammad Hamza Shehbaz Faryal Mir Zafarullah Khan Khan Mahar Sharif Talpur Khan Jamali

PML-N PTI PML-N PPPP PML-N

04% 18/468 04% 20/465 06% 26/468 09% 42/468 13% 61/468 Sittings Sittings Sittings Sittings Sittings

Malik Amir Ch. Dr. Asad Sikandar Haider Khan Ch. Muhammad Muhammad Parvez Elahi Asim Nazir Farooq Sattar PPPP ANP PML PML-N MQM

13% 61/468 13% 62/468 13% 63/468 17% 80/468 17% 80/468 Sittings Sittings Sittings Sittings Sittings

20 PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES ATTENDANCE

Pakistan Muslin League Nawaz (PML-N) PML-N (189 MNAs)

Less than or equal to 10% 2 91% and Above 8 81% to 90% 19 71% to 80% 43 61% to 70% 37 51% to 60% 29 Sittings 41% to 50% 20 31% to 40% 22 21% to 30% 6 11% to 20% 3

Members

Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians PPPP (47 MNAs)

Less than or equal to 10% 2 81% to 90% 4 71% to 80% 6 61% to 70% 9 51% to 60% 8

Sittings 41% to 50% 6 31% to 40% 6 21% to 30% 5 11% to 20% 1

Members

21 PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES ATTENDANCE

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PTI (32 MNAs)

Less than or equal to 10% 2

81% to 90% 1

71% to 80% 11

61% to 70% 5 Sittings 51% to 60% 7

41% to 50% 5

21% to 30% 1

Members

Muttahidda Qaumi Movement MQM (24 MNAs)

Less than or equal to 10% 2 81% to 90% 2 71% to 80% 14 61% to 70% 12 51% to 60% 11

Sittings 41% to 50% 8 31% to 40% 2 21% to 30% 3 11% to 20% 1

Members

22 PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES ATTENDANCE

Jamat Ulama-e-Islam - F JUI-F (13 MNAs)

Less than or equal to 10% 2 91% and Above 2 81% to 90% 4 71% to 80% 14 61% to 70% 6

Sittings 51% to 60% 8 41% to 50% 6 31% to 40% 1 21% to 30% 2

Members

Pakistan Muslin League - F (PML-F) PML-F (5 MNAs)

51% to 60% 1

41% to 50% 1

31% to 40% 1 Sittings 21% to 30% 1

11% to 20% 1

Members

23 PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES ATTENDANCE

Jamat-e-Islami ANP (4 MNAs)

91% and Above 1

81% to 90% 1

Sittings 71% to 80% 1

61% to 70% 1

Members

Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party PKMAP (3 MNAs)

91% and Above 1 Sittings

71% to 80% 2

Members

24 PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES ATTENDANCE

National Peoples Party NPP (2 MNAs)

71% to 80% 1 Sittings

41% to 50% 1

Members

Pakistan Muslim League PML (2 MNAs)

31% to 40% 1 Sittings

11% to 20% 1

Members

25 PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES ATTENDANCE

Awami National Party ANP (2 MNAs)

51% to 60% 1 Sittings

11% to 20% 1

Members

Balochistan National Party BNP (1 MNA)

31% to 40% 1 Sittings

Members

25 ABOUT FAFEN § FAFEN is one of the most credible networks of civil society organizations working for strengthening citizens' voice and accountability in Pakistan since 2006. § FAFEN has harnessed information technology for real-time monitoring, facilitation and technical backstopping of partners for effective and result-based program delivery. § FAFEN is the only civil society group to have been invited by the Judicial Commission to present the evidence of illegalities and irregularities documented through the course of General Elections 2013 Observation. The systemic and procedural issues identified by FAFEN have been acknowledged by the commission in its detailed findings. § FAFEN's recommendations for electoral reforms have contributed to the work of Parliamentary Committee for Electoral Reforms. § FAFEN's advocacy for parliamentary transparency, accountability and reforms has shaped public discourse on parliamentary reforms. Improved citizens' access to parliamentary information including daily public release of parliamentarians' attendance records can be directly attributed to FAFEN's work. § FAFEN deployed 18,000 and 40,000 non-partisan and trained observers for the systematic observation of general election 2008 and 2013, respectively, largest citizens' observation ever undertaken in Pakistan. § FAFEN's evidence and recommendations for reforms have improved the quality of public and political discourse on elections, its issues and need for reforms. Leading political parties and media houses extensively use FAFEN's election findings and analysis to build a case for reforms. § With around 20,000 followers on Twitter and around 133,000 on Facebook, FAFEN is considered one of the most reliable sources of electoral and parliamentary information in the country.

Free and Fair Election Network www.fafen.org

www.openparliament.pk I www.parliamentfiles.com