Powers
The Constitution which was passed unanimously by the National Assembly in April 1973, provides a federal parliamentary system of government, with the President as the head of the State and an elected Prime Minister as the head of the government. Under Article 50 of the Constitution the federal legislature is the bicameral Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), which comprises the President and the two Houses, the National Assembly and the Senate. The National Assembly, Pakistan's sovereign legislative body, makes laws for the federation under powers spelled out in the Federal Legislative List and also for subjects in the Concurrent List, as given in the fourth schedule of the Constitution. Through debates, adjournment motions, question hour, and Standing Committees, the National Assembly keeps a check on the government. It ensures the government functions within the parameters set out in the Constitution, and does not violate the people's fundamental rights. The Parliament scrutinizes public spending and exercises control of expenditure incurred by the government through the work of the relevant Standing Committees. The Public Accounts Committee has a special role to review the report of the Auditor General. Senate, the upper house of the Parliament, has equal representation from the federating units balancing the provincial inequality in the National Assembly, where the number of members is based on population of the provinces. The Senate's role is to promote national cohesion and harmony, and work as a stabilizing factor of the federation. The Senate numbers a total of 100 members who serve six-year terms which are alternated so that half the senators are up for re-election by the electoral college every three years. The National Assembly consists of 342 members. The Constitution empowers the President to dissolve the National Assembly, but the Senate is not subject to dissolution. Only the Parliament can amend the Constitution, by two-thirds majority vote separately in each House.
Read more about this topic: National Assembly (Pakistan)
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