By NNN-Xinhua
Islamabad : The inaugural session of Pakistan’s National Assembly or the lower house of parliament begins at 11:50 a.m. local time Monday, in which the members-elected will take oath.
The parliament session was originally scheduled at 11 a.m. Monday morning. The parties were still holding close consultations on the government formation before the session begins.
The security in Islamabad is tightened since Pakistan has undergone a wave of violent attacks this year.
The session will be prorogued soon after the swearing in and it will meet again Wednesday to elect the speaker and the deputy speaker. Nomination papers for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker can be filed by 12:00 noon on Tuesday.
Polling for the post will be held through secret ballot Wednesday and the new elected speaker will take over charge of the custodian of the house the same day.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) emerged as the largest party in the Feb. 18 elections, and agreed to form coalition government with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which came the second.
According to the declaration signed by the two major parties, the candidates for prime minister, parliament speaker and deputy speaker will be from the PPP of the assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
But the PPP has not nominated any person for premiership so far.
The opposition coalition has named Farooq Sattar, a leader of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), as candidate for prime minister.