Pakistan swore in newly-elected members of its National Assembly (NA) yesterday, marking the country’s second democratic transition of power.
Outgoing Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq administered the oath to lawmakers in a ceremony broadcast live on television.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party of former cricket star Imran Khan won 158 seats in the 342-member assembly in last month’s election and is set to form a government.
The PTI’s member tally reached 158 after it bagged 33 seats reserved for women and minorities, and nine independents joined the party.
A total of 328 members of the lower house of the parliament took their oaths.
Final results showed the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif – now in jail on a corruption conviction – picking up 82 seats.
An election for speaker and deputy speaker of the assembly is scheduled for tomorrow.
The PTI has nominated Khan as the country’s next prime minister and he is expected to be sworn in on Saturday.
Khan declared victory and promised wide ranging reforms in his victory speech, even before official results had started trickling in.
Almost all political parties except Khan’s have rejected the election results, with the process was marred by irregularities and allegations of manipulation at the hands of the country’s powerful military.
However, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has rejected accusations of rigging and said that a delay in the announcement of results was caused by the malfunction of software.
Khan and other prominent political leaders, including PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari, were present yesterday in the assembly for the oath-taking.
TV footage showed the PTI chief shaking hands and posing for a photo with Bilawal, who is entering the NA for his maiden term.
The session commenced with the assembly members standing up for the national anthem.
This was followed by the recitation of the Qur’an.
Outgoing speaker Sadiq then read out the procedure for the election of the new speaker and deputy speaker.
The assembly members then stood up as Sadiq administered the oath of office to them.
The members of the National Assembly (MNAs) were then asked to proceed to the speaker’s desk to sign the roll of members.
In the alphabetical order, PPP co-chairman Zardari was the first to be called to sign the members’ roll.
The MNAs then swore their oaths.
After completion of the swearing-in ceremony, the speaker prorogued the NA session until 10am tomorrow, when the new speaker and deputy speaker of the assembly will be elected.
The nomination papers for the two posts will be submitted by noon today.
Strict security measures were taken to avoid any untoward incident during the proceedings and non-relevant persons were barred from entering the house.
Sessions were also held in the provincial assemblies of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Baluchistan, where the members of the assemblies (MPAs) took their oaths of office.
The oath-taking ceremony for members-elect of the Punjab Assembly will take place tomorrow.
The PTI has already nominated former speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Asad Qaiser for the office of NA speaker, and he would face Syed Khursheed Shah of the PPP, a joint candidate of the 11-party alliance, the Pakistan Alliance for Free and Fair Elections.
Similarly, PTI chairman Imran Khan will face PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif for the office of the prime minister.
At the session held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, 111 MPAs took their oaths in the 124-member house.
PML-N MPA-elect Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha, who was nominated by KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra as the presiding officer, administered the oath to the new members of the assembly.
Members of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the PPP, and the Awami National Party, who wore black bands on their arms, staged a symbolic walkout during the oath-taking over the militant violence that preceded the July 25 elections.
They re-entered the assembly after the walkout and were administered the oath separately.
The session was subsequently adjourned indefinitely.
Outgoing Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani administered the oath to 165 MPAs-elect of the Sindh Assembly in Urdu, Sindhi, and English.
The session was adjourned after all members signed the roll of members.
Apart from 38 reserved seats for women and religious minorities, the provincial legislature has 130 general seats.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has only issued notifications of the results of 127 seats as the results of two constituencies are still being awaited, while the election on PS-87 (Malir-I) was not held because of the death of a contestant.
Meanwhile, 60 Baluchistan MPAs take their oaths before outgoing Speaker Raheela Hameed Khan Durrani.
Four MPAs, including Mir Naseebullah Marri, took their oaths as first-time lawmakers.
Sanaullah Zehri, who was elected as an MPA for the seventh time, did not turn up for the oath-taking ceremony.
The speaker adjourned the session after the oath-taking of the newly elected members.