ISLAMABAD, Aug 10 (APP): Legislative activity in the 15th National Assembly, which was dissolved on Thursday, witnessed an increase of 45% as it passed a total of 279 bills against 192 laws by the 14th National Assembly, according to an analysis by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT).
The biggest show of confidence in the 15th National Assembly came from its own membership in terms of their attendance. The Prime Minister, as Leader of the House, set that trend.
According to the PILDAT analysis, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reflected a much better figure of 17% attendance of the Assembly sittings as against former prime minister Imran Khan who showed a dismal 11% attendance.
Average attendance of members of the National Assembly (MNAs) in five years stands at 61% though it stood at 67% before the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) decision to quit the NA.
The 15th National Assembly witnessed two governments: the first from August 18, 2018 to April 10, 2022 with PTI Chairman Imran Khan as PM, while the second was formed by a coalition of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) with Shehbaz Sharif as PM which lasted from April 11, 2022 to August 09, 2023.
The PTI government relied heavily on ordinances for the purpose of legislation. Out of 75 ordinances laid in the National Assembly in five years, only three were promulgated by the coalition government while 72 were promulgated by the PTI government.
Compared to the term of the 14th National Assembly when only 38 ordinances were promulgated, a 97% increase was witnessed in the number of ordinances passed by the 15th National Assembly.
The 15th National Assembly also passed the largest number of laws as compared to the previous three assemblies starting from 2002. Just during the last three weeks of the 15th National Assembly, 73 bills were passed.
In its 5-year term, the 15th National Assembly was convened for 452 sittings or average 90 sittings per year as against the previous (14th) National Assembly, which was convened for 495 sittings or on average 99 sittings per year.
The 15th National Assembly has also had the unique experience of the first-ever successful passage of Vote of No-Confidence in Pakistan’s parliamentary history against a prime minister. Even though two previous prime ministers had faced votes of no confidence against them but those had remained unsuccessful.
Among 15 legislatures, the 15th National Assembly was the 4th one to be able to complete its term. Earlier assemblies which completed their 5-years term were elected in 2002, 2008 and 2013.
