Latest news with #Fafen
Express Tribune
3 days ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Only 14% MNAs attend all sittings of 16th NA session
Two supplementary resolutions were adopted by the house which were about paying tributes to the sacrifices of the armed forces on Defence Day and condemning terrorism in Quetta and Mardan. PHOTO: FAFEN The 16th session of the National Assembly that spanned over 13 sittings between May 5 and 22, 2025, saw only 14% members making 100% attendance, while 9% of the members were absent during the entire session, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) said in its report on Thursday. Fafen is a civil society network focused on strengthening democracy. It said in its latest report that consistent with the previous sessions, female attendance was generally higher than that of their male counterparts during the session last month. "The highest attendance was recorded during the first sitting, with 237 members (76%) present. During this sitting, the House suspended its regular agenda to discuss the recent Pakistan-India conflict," the report said. The lowest attendance was recorded during the last sitting, with 174 members (55%) present. This sitting was initially adjourned after just 13 minutes because of the lack of quorum. The House reconvened after 15 minutes and passed The Off the Grid (Captive Power Plants) Levy Bill, 2025. Fafen said that 150 members of the National Assembly (MNAs) skipped sittings without advance leave request; 118 (44%) submitted a leave application, including 25 (21%) in advance and 37 (31%) applied ex-post facto after returning from their leave. It added that 268 members (86%) missed at least one sitting during the current session. The report said that 16 female MNAs, including 14 on reserved seats, attended all the sittings, while five female MNAs, including two on the reserved seats, recorded zero attendance. Region-wise, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad Capital Territory lawmakers recorded the highest percentage of MNAs attending more than half of the sittings, it said, adding that majority of lawmakers from the SIC, the PML-N, the JUI, and independents attended more than half of the sittings. A lack of ministerial presence weakened legislative oversight, Fafen said in the report. Among the 29 federal ministers, who were expected to be present during the Question Hour to respond to queries from lawmakers, only 15 (52%) were marked present during the sittings.
Express Tribune
6 days ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
FAFEN gives Sialkot by-poll all clear
During a by-election at Sialkot PP-52 constituency on Sunday, observers belonging to the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) documented persistent instances of illegal campaigning near polling stations, isolated violations of voter identification, ballot processing, and counting procedures. In a three-page report issued on Tuesday, Fafen, however, noted that the general environment around polling stations remained largely peaceful on the polling day. PML-N's candidate Hina Arshad Warraich received the highest number of votes in the by-election held after the seat fell vacant because of the demise of her father Arshad Warraich. Both the PTI and the PPP had later accused the ruling party of using state machinery to win the polls. The report said the by-election was marked by a slight decrease in voter turnout and a reduction in the number of invalid votes compared to the 2024 General Elections amidst isolated procedural irregularities, including the disruption of the counting process by police officials at a polling station. Despite a decline in turnout – from 50% to 45% – the margin of victory increased significantly, from 8,535 votes in GE-2024 to 39,684 in the by-poll. The Provisional Consolidated Statement of the Results of Count (Form-47) was finalized at approximately 1:15 am, well within the legal deadline of 2:00 am. The report cited a particularly serious incident, in which a police contingent entered the premises of Polling Station No 169 when the count of ballots was underway. "They removed the party agents and observers present in the counting hall and took the election materials and polling staff away with them without waiting for the process to be completed. Fafen was unable to obtain a copy of the result of the count of the polling station for the by-election." The report noted that while voter turnout in the by-election was lower than in GE-2024, it was slightly higher than the turnout recorded in the recent NA-213 Umerkot by-election held in April 2025. Female voter turnout dropped from 47 percent in GE-2024 to 39 percent, while male turnout decreased from 53 percent to 50 percent in the by-election. "According to Form-47, the PML-N's vote share rose from 41 percent in GE-2024 to 59 percent in the by-election. The runner-up independent candidate, backed by PTI, saw his vote share decline from 35 percent to 29 percent." Fafen had deployed ten trained observers including seven men and three women, who observed voting and counting processes at 39 of the 185 polling stations established in the constituency. According to Fafen observers, around 79 percent of the observed polling stations had party's/candidate's camps in the close vicinity of polling stations while 85 percent polling stations had banners or flags of contesting candidates or parties displayed in their surroundings. The party camps around polling stations were also displaying campaign materials and distributing voter chits and food to visitors around 23 percent of the observed polling stations. Party-supported vehicles were seen providing transport to voters outside 46 percent of the observed polling stations. It said the polling officers were observed to be checking the National Identity Cards (NICs), marking the thumbs of the eligible voters with indelible ink, obtaining their thumb impressions on electoral rolls and striking off their names on the electoral rolls at almost all of the observed polling booths. "However, they were observed to be skipping to loudly call out the name of the voters so that the polling agents could know the identity of incoming voters and match it with their copy of electoral rolls at 49 percent of the observed polling booths," it added.
Express Tribune
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Ballot box representation
Listen to article Barely a quarter of all directly elected members of the National Assembly won more than 50% of the total votes cast in their constituencies, raising new questions about the mandates of our parliamentarians. Without delving into any rigging allegations, the data not only reflects the deep political divisions in society, but the unrepresentative nature of our current first-past-the-post (FPTP) election system, where a politician can, in theory, win with even less than 10% of the vote. Should such a victory constitute a legitimate mandate? Data from Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) underscores the need to take a long hard look at major election reforms to ensure that the winning candidate is at least generally popular in their own constituency. One change suggested in several FPTP systems is a runoff system, where low vote-getters are eliminated and fresh polls held until somebody reaches a certain threshold, usually 50% of the vote. However, runoffs can be prohibitively expensive as they can require several stages of polling. This makes ranked choice voting - which lets people vote for several candidates while attaching a weightage to each name - more doable. This leads to an instant runoff, ensuring that the winner has at least some support from an outright majority of voters. It can also ensure that a generally unlikeable candidate with a strong base cannot win a split-vote election, and makes 'seat adjustment' between parties unnecessary. Some countries also have proportional representation, where votes are cast for parties, not candidates, and seats are allocated based on parties' own priority lists. But while this leads to strong governments, it opens the door for undemocratic parties to take regressive measures, making it a hard pass for Pakistan, where most major political parties lack internal democracy, and some have authoritarian leadership. Whatever the solution to better elections, it certainly is not FPTP in its current form.
Express Tribune
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
MNAs took low interest in parliamentary duty
ISLAMABAD: The first National Assembly session of 2025 saw only 36 members attending all the sittings and 35 members did not show up for the parliamentary duty even for a single day, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), a civil society network, said in its latest report on Wednesday. The National Assembly held its 12 session from January 13-23, 2025. The house held a total of nine sittings to dispose of several agenda items, including the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Amendment Bill. According to the Fafen report, the last sitting on January 23 had the highest attendance of the National Assembly members (MNAs), when 241 or 68%, lawmakers were present. This was in contrast with the fifth session when the attendance with the lowest, with 117 MNAs, or 37% of the total house. "As Many as 96 MNAs (35%) submitted applications for leave of absence during the session. As many as 181 MNAs (65%) skipped the house proceedings without any formal leave application in advance," reveals the report. Among the ministers, it continued, the housing and works minister was the only minister to have attended all the sittings, so as the leader of opposition. The report pointed out that the prime minister attended on two sittings. The report said that 36 (11%) members attended all the sittings, whereas 35 (11%) did not attend any sitting during the session. "MNAs from ICT [Islamabad Capital Territory] were more regular than the MNAs from other regions," it said, adding that 277 MNAs (82%) skipped at least one sitting. "The attendance pattern fluctuated throughout the session, with female members consistently recording higher attendance than their male counterparts. However, only five (9%) female MNAs – three on reserved and two on general seats – attended all sittings. Majority of lawmakers from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarian (PPPP), the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) attended more than half of the sittings. The sole lawmaker from BNP did not attend any sitting. Other parties with only one member, including National Party (NP), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), and Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z), each attended more than half of the sittings, while the Majlis-e-Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen Pakistan (MWMP) lawmaker attended all the sittings. The report commented that a lack of ministerial presence weakened legislative oversight. The current cabinet comprises the prime minister and 18 ministers – 12 MNAs and six Senators. Besides six MNAs hold the office of the ministers of state and 30 are parliamentary secretaries of various ministries. "The report said that cabinet members from the Senate are not ordinarily required to attend the Assembly's session unless there's an agenda item pertaining to their ministry. 0attendance of 20 ministers was required in the Question Hour, but only six ministers attended all the relevant sessions. Among the parliamentary leaders, the leaders of the SIC and the MWMP attended all the 9 sessions. The parliamentary leader of the PML-N attended six sessions, while the parliamentary leaders of the PPPP, the JUI, and the BNP did not attend any of the sessions, the report stated.
