By Xinhua
Islamabad : Pakistan’s political scenario is unfolding as Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is taking over power from the caretaker government.
Two candidates fielded by assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s party PPP on Wednesday took oath as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, lower house of Pakistan’s parliament.
Dr. Fahmida Mirza was elected as Speaker of National Assembly while Fazal Karim Kundi of the same party was elected as Deputy Speaker of National Assembly.
Fahmida Mirza, a 52-year-old woman member of PPP from Sindh province, won the election of speaker of National assembly and elected as the first ever woman parliamentary Speaker of the country.
She received 249 votes out of 324 polled in the 342-member lower house of the parliament, according to the announcement by the outgoing Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain on Wednesday.
She is wife of Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, who is a close aide of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and was also elected member of provincial assembly in Sindh.
The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid party and allied parties fielded Israr Tareen, a lawmaker from southwestern Balochistan province to challenge Fahmida Mirza, the News Network International news agency reported on Wednesday. After the elections of the Speaker of National Assembly, the elections of Deputy Speaker of NA were held in which Fazal Karim Kundi was declared as elected Deputy Speaker of National Assembly.
Fazal Karim Kundi is a PPP member from North West Frontier Province and supported by PPP, and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He won 246 votes out of 318 polled in the 342-member lower house of the parliament, according to the announcement by the incumbent Speaker Dr. Fahmida Mirza. 4 votes were declared invalid.
The PPP won the highest number of NA seats in the general elections held on Feb. 18, followed by PML-N in the second position.
The two largest parties in the NA have reached an agreement on the formation of government in the center and also eastern Punjab province.
The PPP, PML-N and some other coalition partners on Tuesday announced that they had eventually worked out a power-sharing formula on the setup of the future cabinet.
The concerned parties decided that the composition of the cabinet would be based on the strength of the parties in the National Assembly and the Senate. The PPP Information Secretary Sherry Rehman told the media on Tuesday that the cabinet portfolios would be decided after the government finalized its candidate for the premiership slot.
However, the PPP still appeared to be divided on the nomination of prime minister on Wednesday. There were conflicting reports about whether the PPP had made a final decision in this regard.
The PPP’s Parliamentarians President and Vice Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who used to be considered as an unanimous PPP candidate for prime minister, Wednesday clarified that he was still in the run for premiership amongst suspicion that Zardari would finally field a candidate against Fahim’s wishes.
Some senior leaders from PML-N publicly criticized Fahim for being close to President Pervez Musharraf, whom Nawaz Sharif has been urging to resign after the general elections.
The National Accountability Bureau recently dropped all the charges against Zardari, paving the way for him to get elected as a member of the NA in the by-elections in May. Eventually, Zardari will be eligible for the office of prime minister.
Rumors have been circulating that Zardari would field an interim prime minister for several months. After that, he would get himself elected as the prime minister of Pakistan.
However, Fahim has quite a few supporters in PPP as a senior leader. A PPP leader on Wednesday said even if Zardari did not nominate Fahim as the PM candidate, he had every right to run for the slot and would understandably get some support from PPP as well as the opposition parties.
Senior vice president of PPP Sayed Yousuf Raza Gillani on Wednesday termed the rumors of interim prime minister immature and said their party would nominate the candidate after building consensus within its ranks.