Home »Top Stories » PTI’s Qaiser, Suri elected NA Speaker, Deputy Speaker: Fissures emerge in Opposition

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  • Aug 16th, 2018
  • Comments Off on PTI’s Qaiser, Suri elected NA Speaker, Deputy Speaker: Fissures emerge in Opposition
The newly-elected National Assembly on Wednesday elected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI's) Asad Qaiser and Qasim Suri for the slots of speaker and deputy speaker, respectively, amid protests by the opposition. A total of 330 votes were cast for the election of speaker. Qaiser bagged 176 votes against the 11-member opposition alliance's joint candidate Syed Khursheed Shah who got 146 votes, while 8 votes were rejected.

For the election of deputy speaker, a total of 328 members cast their vote and one vote was rejected. PTI's nominee for the Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri secured 183 votes while his opponent Asad-ur-Rehman got 144 votes. The polling process for the slots began in the morning while all parliamentary leaders including PTI Chairman Imran Khan, PPP Chairman and Co-Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Asif Ali Zardari, respectively, and PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif cast their votes.

According to the election procedure, first the members of the National Assembly polled their vote for speaker and then they voted for deputy speaker on separate ballot papers. Shortly after Asad Qaiser was announced victorious for the speaker's position, PML-N lawmakers stood up and chanted slogans, "We don't accept rigging. Give respect to vote. Stop stealing the votes." Some of the party members were also carrying posters of Mian Nawaz Sharif who is recently convicted in a corruption reference.

The PML-N legislators surrounded the speaker's rostrum and the prime minister in-waiting Imran Khan's chair. During ruckus in the assembly, members of other opposition parties including the PPP and Awami National Party did not participate in the protest.

Outgoing Deputy Speaker and the PML-N legislator Murtaza Javed Abbasi congratulated the newly-elected speaker and urged him to run the house as per rules and procedures. He protested that Nawaz Sharif, the thrice-elected prime minister, was brought to the accountability court in an armored personnel carrier.

The runner-up candidate in the speaker's election, Khursheed Shah also congratulated Asad Qaiser and hoped the Parliament will do its best to come up to the expectations of people. He said that his party respects the Constitution and democracy, and would support the government in all positive legislations. He, however, said that his party will play an effective role of opposition in the National Assembly.

PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi lauded the positive attitude of the PPP members and assured them that the government will take care of all positive suggestions of the opposition parties.

He said that there are numerous challenges in foreign policy and economy, and the government would seek assistance of the opposition to deal with them. The outgoing Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said the Parliament had empowered the Election Commission of Pakistan through the Elections Act 2017, but it failed to conduct fair and free elections.

"We perhaps failed to select a vibrant Election Commission. There is a big question mark on performance of the Commission," he said. Sadiq said the ECP spent Rs 20 billion on the elections but still failed to conduct transparent elections, adding that the Parliament should hold the Election Commission accountable for its failure.

Parliamentary leaders of JUI-F Maulana Abdul Wasay, BNP's Akhtar Mengal, MQM-P's Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Grand Democratic Alliance's Ghaus Bukhsh Mehr and Jamhoori Wattan Party's Shah Zain Bugti also extended their congratulations to the speaker.

After being declared as victorious in the elections, Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri highlighted problems of Balochistan from where he has been elected to the National Assembly. He said the people of Balochistan are deprived of drinking water, education and health facilities; therefore the PTI's government should do its best to resolve these issues.

Suri said that his party would also try to bring the disgruntled Baloch leaders into the mainstream through dialogue and negotiations. The runner-up candidate for Deputy Speaker Asad-ur-Rehman said that his party along with other opposition parties has rejected the elections' results, but has participated in the democratic process for betterment of the country.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2018


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