ISLAMABAD: Only 66 of 333 members of the National Assembly, or 20 per cent, attended all nine sittings of the House’s 27th session held between May 11 and May 22, 2026, while 33 MNAs — 10pc — did not attend any sitting, a report by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) said.

As many as 267 MNAs — 80pc — missed at least one sitting during the session, according to the attendance report released on Tuesday.

The report said the first sitting recorded the highest attendance, with 249 MNAs present, or 75pc of current membership. The fifth sitting recorded the lowest attendance, with 164 MNAs or 49pc present.

Among key officeholders, the prime minister did not attend any sitting, while the leader of the opposition attended all nine sittings.

Of the cabinet members from the National Assembly, one federal minister and one state minister attended all sittings, while two ministers — one federal minister and one minister of state — did not attend any sitting.

During question hour, 26 federal ministers were scheduled to respond. Of them, 12 were present on the day they were required to answer questions.

For the remaining 14, parliamentary secretaries from eight ministries were present when questions related to their ministries were taken up.

On calling attention notices (CANs), eight ministers were required to make statements. Only three were present in the sitting when CANs concerning their ministries were on the agenda.

Attendance breakdown

The Fafen report said 66 members attended all nine sittings, 146 attended between five and eight sittings, 88 attended one to four sittings, and 33 did not attend any sitting.

By seat type, 43 male MNAs elected on general seats did not attend any sitting, compared to six women MNAs on reserved seats and two male MNAs on minority seats.

Of those who attended all sittings, 30 were women elected on reserved seats, 20 were male MNAs on general seats and six were female MNAs on general seats.

Female lawmakers consistently recorded higher proportionate attendance than male colleagues across all nine sittings, the report said.

In the first sitting, 79pc of women MNAs were present compared to 73pc of male MNAs. In the fifth sitting, which had the lowest overall turnout, 55pc of women MNAs attended versus 48pc of men.

Party and regional trends

The House currently has 13 parliamentary parties and 79 independents. Eight parties and four independents sit on government benches while five parties and 75 independents are in opposition.

Among major parties, the PML-N had 13 members who did not attend any sitting, 39 who attended one to four sittings, 51 who attended five to eight sittings, and 29 who attended all sittings.

Among independents, 43 did not attend any sitting, 19 attended one to four sittings, 10 attended five to eight sittings, and three attended all sittings.

The PPP had 11 members who did not attend any sitting and 19 who attended all sittings.

The report also analysed leave requests from the preceding 26th session. Of 267 members who missed at least one sitting, only 82 submitted formal leave applications, while 185 were absent without any formal request.

Of the 82 who applied, 33pc sought leave in advance, 35pc had applications read between their leaves, 32pc submitted ex-post facto applications and 24pc were absent longer than the duration requested.

Parliamentary leaders

Among parliamentary party heads, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Majlis-i-Wahdatul Muslimeen Pakistan’s Hameed Hussain attended all nine sittings. PML-N’s Khawaja Muhammad Asif attended seven, Balochistan Awami Party’s Khalid Hussain Magsi attended six and PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari did not attend any sitting.

Fafen said it has been systematically observing and reporting on National Assembly proceedings since 2008 to promote transparency and accountability.

The report is based on official attendance and leave records available on the National Assembly website. The House currently has 333 members, as three general seats remain vacant.