First session of Pakistan’s newly elected Parliament, MPs took oath of office – Dainik Savera Times

Islamabad: The country’s newly elected MPs took oath on Thursday after Pakistan President Arif Alvi called a session of the National Assembly. The first session of the new parliament was held after Alvi’s initial refusal due to differences with the caretaker government over the issue of allotting reserved seats to candidates supported by former prime minister Imran Khan’s party. It was chaired by the outgoing speaker of the previous parliament, Raja Pervez Ashraf. The first session of the 16th Parliament began after a delay of more than an hour.

Ashraf administered the oath to the newly elected MPs amid sloganeering by MPs supporting Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against alleged rigging in the February 8 general elections. The new MPs who took oath include Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

The newly elected MPs will elect the new Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. The election for the post of prime minister is expected to be held on Saturday and former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to be elected as the new leader of the House under the post-poll agreement between PML-N and PPP. In the elections, independent candidates supported by PTI party have won the maximum 93 seats of the National Assembly. PML-N won 75 seats and PPP won 54 seats. Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) had won 17 seats.