ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly session to elect speaker and the deputy speaker has begun, with stiff competition expected between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Opposition Alliance.
The newly-elected MNAs are voting for their desired candidates through a secret ballot.
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Outgoing speaker Ayaz Sadiq is chairing the session. The newly elected MNAs including prime minister-in-waiting Imran Khan is also present in the House.
The election process
The newly-elected MNAs cast their vote for speaker of the Lower House through a secret ballot. In the first round, the outgoing speaker chairs the session and supervises polling process for election of the new Speaker. During the polling, no one is allowed to take a photograph of their vote.
Once all the votes have been cast, the speaker will announce that the polling process has concluded. Votes will then be counted in the presence of both candidates and their polling agents. Once the results are compiled, the speaker will proceed to announce the results.
The outgoing speaker will then take the incoming speaker’s oath. The same process will be repeated to bring in the new deputy speaker. The new speaker will supervise the election of the deputy speaker.
According to details, it is a one-on-one contest, with four candidates are in the race for the slots of speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who emerged as the largest party in July 25 elections, has fielded Asad Qaiser, former speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, and Qasim Suri, a PTI member from Balochistan, against Syed Khursheed Shah of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Asad Rehman of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), who are joint candidate of the opposition parties, for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker, respectively.
PTI backed candidates and the opposition alliance nominees submitted their papers on Tuesday for the election of top slots of the lower house.
According to reports, the PTI candidates have edge over the opposition candidates due to differences between the PPP and PML-N, two major parties of the joint opposition, over the nomination of Shahbaz Sharif, as joint opposition candidate for the office of the prime minister.
The elections will be held through secret ballot and it will be illegal to film the vote.
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