MNAs were allotted seats in Urdu alphabetical order. Parliamentary leaders were allotted seats in front rows. The outgoing Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Fehmida Mirza administered oath to 301 out of 314 parliamentarians simultaneously, while taking oath herself as an MNA. After the oath-taking ceremony, members signed the 'Roll of Members' register. The House has a total of 342 seats with 272 general seats, while 60 seats are reserved for women and 10 for minorities. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), however, is yet to notify the winners of some general as well as on reserved seats.
Twelve candidates, winning more than one seat in the general elections, did not take oath and are expected to resign from all but one. These included Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Shahbaz Sharif (nominated by his party to be Chief Minister Punjab for a second consecutive term), Asad Qaisar (already elected as speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly), Pervez Khattak (already elected as chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Jamshed Dasti.
Chairperson of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan, did not attend the ceremony because his health still does not permit him to travel. Dr Fehmida Mirza is the second speaker of the Lower House of Parliament who has been elected again as member of the National Assembly after Gohar Ayyub. The session as well as the oath-taking ceremony was marred by a two-hour delay from the scheduled time of 10am.
The swearing in ceremony reflected a smooth transition of power for the first time in the country's history from a civilian to another civilian government. Dressed in their finest on a sweltering Saturday, the incoming lawmakers arrived at the Parliament House in Islamabad under tight security. Hundreds of security personnel were deployed to protect the 'Red Zone' in the heart of Islamabad.
Special cards had been issued to senior civilian and military officials, diplomats, and important personalities to witness the maiden session of the National Assembly. The security staff of Parliament received the newly elected MNAs after their verifying their identification, while elaborate security measures had been ensured within the Parliament.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief and presumptive prime minister Nawaz Sharif set foot in the National Assembly after a period of 13 and a half years since he was ousted in a military coup led by General Pervez Musharraf (retired) on October 12, 1999.
As Nawaz Sharif entered the assembly, he was greeted by desk thumping, clapping and slogans by his party's supporters in the visitors' galleries that were filled to capacity.
PTI workers cheered when Makhdoom Javed Hashmi entered the House. Some veteran politicians not elected in 2008 would now be visible again in the National Assembly, including Sheikh Rasheed, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Ijazul Haq, Mehmood Khan Achakzai and notable Baloch leaders. During the session, Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza announced that the nomination papers for the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker could be submitted till 12 noon on June 2. She said that elections for these posts would be held on June 3 via secret ballot.
Nomination papers for the Leader of the House will be submitted on June 4 and the new prime minister will be elected on June 5. Later, the Speaker adjourned the House till 11am on Monday (June 3). Earlier, the parliamentary committee of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) unanimously nominated the party's president Nawaz Sharif as its prime ministerial candidate.
The decision was taken at a meeting with Nawaz Sharif in the chair, held in the chamber of leader of the opposition in Senate Ishaq Dar at the Parliament House before the oath-taking ceremony of newly-elected members of the National Assembly. Nawaz Sharif is poised to become Prime Minister for a third-time. The sources within the party said that efforts were being made to elect Nawaz Sharif unanimously to the office of the Prime Minister.
Addressing the parliamentary party's meeting, Nawaz Sharif vowed to tackle daunting challenges faced by the country such as an unstable economy‚ poverty‚ unemployment‚ loadshedding and terrorism. He said that the country needed Rs 550 billion to get overcome the persistent problem of loadshedding, adding that a strategy was being devised to resolve the issue of outstanding circular debt.
Pledging to make the domestic economy self-sufficient, instead of begging for foreign loans and donations, he said: "We are facing line losses worth billions of rupees...we will have to keep a strict check on lines losses and recover outstanding dues." Urging his party's parliamentarians to come up to people's aspirations, he said that they should also safeguard national interests. He warned PML-N parliamentarians that corruption "will not be tolerated".
"I pledge not to be involved in any corruption and also want you [MPs] to promise me not to get involved in corruption or even tolerate it," he said. Appreciating the clear mandate secured by PML-N in the general elections, Nawaz Sharif said that now, it would not have to make compromises for the formation of the government, adding that if his party had not been given a clear mandate‚ he would have preferred to sit outside the government, instead of making compromises.
Referring to the war on terror, he said more than 40,000 lives had so far been lost while the country's economy suffered tremendously. "We have to bring things back on right track, and for this, we will have to change our conduct," he said. Signalling strict accountability during the tenure of his government, Nawaz Sharif said that elements who looted the national exchequer "will have to face strict accountability".
Later, talking to reporters outside the Parliament House, PML-N deputy secretary-general Ahsan Iqbal said that his party wanted all political parties to work together to resolve people's problems. He said that PML-N would pursue a policy of reconciliation and national harmony to deal with daunting domestic challenges. He said that PML-N will appoint competent and honest people on all positions in state-run organisations, including PIA and Pakistan Railways to make them profitable. He said that although PML-N "can form the government alone" it wanted all political parties to play their role in bringing the country out of crisis.
Talking to this correspondent, PML-N's secretary-information Mushahidullh Khan said that PML-N had set a precedent by electing former Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani unanimously after 2008 elections. Without specifying, he said that other political parties could show the same maturity demonstrated by PML-N by electing "our nominee" or field their own candidates. PML-N, he said, would face no problem in getting Nawaz Sharif elected as prime minister "with a comfortable majority". Meanwhile, PPP leader Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah said that no decision had yet been taken to elect Nawaz Sharif unanimously.