Sharif Coalition Pick Wins Pakistan Parliament Speaker Job

Kamran Haider
·1 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Lawmakers selected Sardar Ayaz Sadiq as the Speaker of Pakistan’s National Assembly at the parliament’s first session after last month’s general elections.

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The lawmaker, who belongs to the party of former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, received the most votes, said outgoing speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf. His election will be followed by a vote for the prime minister on Sunday and paves the way for way for Shehbaz Sharif to return to power, after two old-hand parties joined hands and nominated him as their candidate.

The balloting on Friday saw Sadiq, Sharif-led coalition’s candidate, receive 199 votes of the newly elected members of parliament against 91 votes of Malik Amir Dogar, the representative of an alliance of jailed former premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and a conservative religious group, according to Ashraf.

Sharif is set to be elected prime minister for the second time on Sunday and he will seek a fresh bailout from the International Monetary Fund of at least $6 billion. The Feb 8. general elections resulted in an unclear mandate for any single party, forcing Sharif and Bhutto-Zardari to form a coalition to keep former cricket star Khan — whose candidates secured the most seats in the polls — from forming a government.

Khan has picked Omar Ayub Khan, a grandson of Pakistan’s first military dictator, as his party’s candidate. Sharif is expected to easily win the contest.

--With assistance from Khalid Qayum.

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