Amir of PML-QA elected Speaker of Parliament

Amir of PML-QA elected Speaker of Parliament ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 (KUNA) -- Chaudhry Amir Hussain of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA) Tuesday was elected Speaker of the newly elected National Assembly Tuesday (Lower House of Parliament), bagging 167 votes in the 342-seat house following a secret ballot.
Chaudhry Amir Hussain, was a former law minister in the government of former twice elected Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif.
Former Speaker of the National Assembly Illahi Bakhsh Soomro conducted the Speaker's election and administer the oath to the new Speaker.
The new Speaker will then conduct election of the deputy speaker and take the oath from his deputy.
Before the Speaker's election, the Members of the National Assembly (MNAs)-elect who failed to take the oath on Saturday were administered the oath of their office.
The PML-Q has submitted papers of Chaudhry Amir Hussain, and Sardar Mohammad Yaqub, an MNA from Abbottabad, for speaker and deputy speaker, respectively. After scrutiny, nomination papers of all the candidates were found in order.
Four candidates had filed their nomination papers for the election of National Assembly (NA) Speaker. However, one PML-QA candidate, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, withdrew his nomination papers; the contest held between the PML-QAs Chaudhry Amir Hussain, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)s Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA)s Liaquat Baloch.
The MMA candidate Liaquat Baloch garnered 80 votes and Aitzaz Ahsan, from former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's party, won 71 votes. Several votes were rejected as invalid. The contest for the Speaker and deputy Speaker has set the mood of the National Assembly for the election of Prime Minister. There are less chances of defection in the election for the office of Prime Minister, as it will be through a show of hands by the members.
The contenders for the office of Prime Minister are the PML-QAs Mir Zafrullah Jamali, the PPPs Makhdoom Amin Fahim and the MMAs Maulana Fazlur Rehman and the election will be held on Thursday.
As talks between the PML-QA and the MMA on the formation of a coalition government have failed, it is expected that the contest for the post of Prime Minister will be between Jamali, Fahim and Maulana Rehman. However, a last minute agreement between the PML-QA and the MMA, or the ARD and the MMA cannot be ruled out.
For the office of Deputy Speaker, four candidates including Hafiz Hussain Ahmad (MMA), Sardar Yaqub Nasir of (PML-N), Nabil Gabol (PPP) and Sardar Muhammad Yaqub of (PML-QA) submitted their papers.
The PPP has 70 MNAs and the MMAs strength is 67, including seven MNAs from Federally Administered Tribal Area (F ATA). The PML-Nawaz (PML-N), a PPP partner in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), has 19 MNAs. If the PPP and PML-N agree on joint candidates, their total strength in the National Assembly would be 89. (end) myk.ge