Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has been elected as the new Speaker of the National Assembly, the lower house of the Parliament of Pakistan. The leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) was sworn in as the speaker on Friday, despite protests by supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. The lawmakers of the National Assembly elected Ayaz Sadiq as the 23rd speaker yesterday. He was elected Speaker by getting 199 votes.On the other hand, his rival Amir Malik Dogar of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) got 91 votes. After being elected, he was administered the oath by outgoing Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf. PTI-backed MPs lashed out at the outgoing Speaker as lawmakers began to jostle to elect Sadiq as Speaker. The inaugural session of the National Assembly was held on Thursday, 21 days after the February 8 elections.In the inaugural session, Imran Khan’s supporters staged a huge uproar and protest, alleging election rigging. Since the election, PTI has been alleging widespread vote rigging. Lawmakers of the party told reporters yesterday that they would protest against election rigging inside and outside Parliament. PML-N won 79 seats and the PPP 54 in the February 8 elections.On the other hand, independent candidates supported by Imran’s PTI got the highest number of 92 seats. Complexity arises as no single party gets a single majority. Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N secured the necessary majority to form the government with the support of the PPP and four other parties after days of tussling. According to the power-sharing agreement, Shehbaz Sharif will be the prime ministerial candidate of the government, and Asif Ali Zardari will contest for the presidential post.
Pakistan’s new speaker elected from Nawaz’s party
