Pakistan’s newly-elected Parliament today voted nominees of Prime Minister-in-waiting Imran Khan’s party as the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, kicking off the process of transition and handing over powers to the new government.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’sAsadQaiser, a former speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, defeated Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) stalwart Syed Khursheed Shah, who was fielded by the joint opposition alliance for the speaker’s post.
The election was held through secret ballot. Qaiser received 176 votes against Shah’s 146. Eight votes were rejected. Outgoing Speaker AyazSadiq administered the oath to Qaiser among loud chants of “vote koizzat do” (give value to the votes) by opposition lawmakers, the report said.
After the announcement, Qaiser shook hands with opposition leaders seated in the front row. He will supervise the election process of the prime minister.
Later, Qaiser oversaw the election of the deputy speaker. PTI’s QasimSuri was elected as deputy speaker. He defeated opposition candidate – AsadRehman of MuttahidaMajlis-i-Amal (MMA).
Suri got 183 votes while his opponent Rehman got 144 votes. One vote was rejected.
Strict security measures were put in place to avoid any untoward incident during the proceedings.
After the election of speaker and deputy speaker, the process for election of prime minister or leader of the house has started for which 65-year-old Khan has filed his nomination papers.
Joint opposition has announced to field Shehbaz Sharif against Khan.
Election for the premiership will be held on August 17. The voting will be held in open through division of members in different galleries designated for different candidates. The Prime Minister-elect will take oath on August 18.
On Monday, Khan along with 329 newly-elected members of the National Assembly took the oath, setting the stage for the cricketer-turned-politician to form the next government, only the second democratic transition of power in the country’s history.
The maiden session of the 15th National Assembly saw Speaker Sadiq administer the oath to the leaders in the 342-member house, 19 days after PTI emerged as the single largest party in the general elections.
Khan and other prominent leaders including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shahbaz Sharif, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari also took oath.
Earlier, PTI senior vice president Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the media that their candidates would easily win the majority votes, saying the joint opposition alliance would soon fizzle out as cracks have begun appearing in their ranks. He was referring to PPP expressing reservation over nomination of Sharif as the joint candidate of the opposition for the post of prime minister.
The PML-N, the PPP and the MMA forged an alliance after elections and decided to field joint candidates for the posts of Prime Minister, Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
They agreed that the Prime Minister candidate will be from the PML-N, Speaker from the PPP and Deputy Speaker from the MMA. However, PPP’s Khursheed Shah said that his party has “serious reservations” over Sharif’s nomination due to his past controversial statements against their leadership.
The PTI emerged as the single largest party with 116 seats in July 25 elections. Its number increased to 125 after nine independent members joined it and final tally reached 158 after it was allotted 28 out of 60 seats reserved for women and five out of 10 seats reserved for minorities.
The new government faces a strong opposition as the PML-N has a final tally of 82 seats, followed by the PPP with 53 and MMA 15 seats.
The PTI has the support of smaller parties including MuttahidaQuami Movement (MQM) with seven seats, BalochistanAwami Party five, Balochistan National Party four, Pakistan Muslim League three, Grand Democratic Alliance three, Awami Muslim League and JamoriWatan Party one seat each.
This will be the third consecutive democratic government in Pakistan since 2008 when military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf announced elections after serving as president from 2001 to 2008 following a bloodless coup in 1999.
The PPP formed the government in 2008, followed by the PML-N led by jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2013.
Pakistan’s powerful military has ruled the country through various coups for nearly half of the country’s history since independence in 1947. Even during the civilian rule, the generals have wielded enormous power, setting the agenda for the country’s foreign and security policies.