National Assembly to elect new Prime Minister today

ISLAMABAD: Newly-elected National Assembly will meet today (Friday)to elect new prime minister of Pakistan.

Imran Khan, 65, Tehreek-e-Insaf chief, and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif have filed nominations for the top slot of the leader of the house, which were  accepted for the election.

Having  majority in National Assembly with 175 seats, cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan  in comfortable position to become premier after a rift emerged in the grand opposition alliance over the candidature of PML-N chief Shahbaz Sharif.

For the first time in the history of Pakistan, PPP has decided to abstain from voting in either candidate’s favour; while  PML-N warns of exacting revenge by replacing PPP’s Sherry Rehman as Senate Opposition leader.

With the loss of the PPP’s 54 seats, Shehbaz will now face an almost impossible task to be elected as prime minister. The PML-N has 81 seats in the National Assembly.

On the other hand, The PTI, which emerged as the leading party in the July 25 general election, has 151 seats, and with the support of its allies, the total stands at 175 which is more than the required simple majority.

Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser has summoned  the parliament session at 3:30pm today to elect the new prime minister. The voting will be held in open through division of members in different galleries designated for different candidates.

Other political parties included; The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) with three members, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) with seven members, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) with five members, Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) with four members, three lawmakers of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), and one member each from the Awami Muslim League (AML) and Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) are reportedly supporting the PTI.

On Wednesday, PTI leader Asad Qaiser bagged 176 votes in the election for National Assembly speaker. While, the PML-N is the second largest party in the assembly with 81 members, followed by Pakistan People's Party (PPP) with 54 lawmakers.