Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, a senior leader from the party headed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was on Friday elected as the Speaker of the newly-formed National Assembly amidst protests by supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate beat his rival Amir Dogar, who got only 91 votes amid commotion caused by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) members. Dogar was backed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
“Out of a total 291 votes, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has got 199 votes, while his challenger Amir Dogar has got 91 votes, while one vote has been declared as invalid,” outgoing Speaker, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, who presided over the session held to elect his successor through the secret voting system, announced. Sadiq secured 199 votes out of a total of 291 votes cast. Given its position in the Assembly, it was sure that the PML-N-backed candidate would win as the Nawaz Sharif-headed party had tied up with the PPP and other four smaller parties to keep Khan’s PTI out of power.
In his final remarks, the outgoing Speaker thanked the House for keeping trust in him. After the election as Speaker, Sadiq was administered the oath of office by Ashraf. Sadiq after donning the special robes of the Speaker announced to organise the election of Deputy Speaker for which Syed Ghulam Mustafa of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was up against Junaid Akbar of SIC. The session for the election of Speaker was marred by ruckus and sloganeering against alleged poll rigging, with the outgoing Speaker, Ashraf, repeatedly calling for order in the House. “No member can raise slogans, wave placards,” he said. “This is the rule, it is necessary to remind you.” Despite the Speaker’s warning, lawmakers continued with their sloganeering. However, Ashraf succeeded in completing the process smoothly. The SIC lawmakers were protesting the alleged manipulation of the results of elections held on February 8. The election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be followed by the election of the prime minister on Sunday.
Khan and PTI have alleged massive rigging in the February 8 polls and accused PML-N and its alliance partners, including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of stealing his party’s mandate. Independent candidates - a majority backed by Khan’s PTI - won 93 National Assembly seats. The PML-N won 75 seats, the PPP came third with 54 seats while the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) won 17 seats.
Meanwhile, according to the schedule announced on Thursday by the National Assembly Secretariat, the election for the head of the government, i.e. the prime minister, would be held on Sunday. The PMN-L and PPP alliance has nominated former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif as their nominee. Given the voting pattern on Friday, Shehbaz Sharif is set to become the prime minister for a second time. He held the post from April 2022 till August 2023 when fresh elections were announced.
The election for the new President will take place on March 9. PPP leader and former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari is expected to be re-elected to the post after a gap of nearly 11 years.
