Pakistan's Newly Elected Parliament Set To Open Despite President's Refusal

The maiden sitting of Pakistan's newly elected lawmakers has been summoned on Thursday after President Arif Alvi refused to call the National Assembly session.

The National Assembly Secretariat on Wednesday issued a notification, summoning the session to elect the speaker, deputy speaker and leader of the house for the next five-year term.

It came after Alvi refused to summon the session arguing that the house is incomplete since the Election Commission of Pakistan has not allotted reserved seats for women and religious minorities to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), a new home to jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

"Whereas the Ministry of parliamentary affairs has intimated that on its request the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan after obtaining legal opinion of the Ministry of Law and Justice has been pleased to approve that arrangements for the first sitting of the national assembly may be made in terms of clause (2) Article 91 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, therefore it is hereby informed the National Assembly shall meet on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 190.a.am in the parliament House, Islamabad.

This is the first time in the South Asian country's 75-year political history that a president has refused to summon the parliament's sitting to elect the leader of the house, and the National Assembly Secretariat had to do so.

The majority of PTI-backed independents have joined the SIC, a small religiopolitical party, intending to gain more seats in the national and provincial assemblies reserved for women and religious minorities.

Nonetheless, the Election Commission has yet to allot the reserved seats.

The electoral body allocates reserved seats based on the proportion of a party's winning seats in the house.

Under the country's constitution, the president will summon the first session within 21 days after the general election, in this case by Feb. 29 after polls were held on Feb. 08.

The PTI, which supported Alvi's decision to not summon the sitting, however, has announced that its affiliated lawmakers will attend the inaugural session to take an oath of office.

Hung parliament

The crucial Feb. 8 elections resulted in a hung parliament, with no party securing two-thirds of seats to form the government with a simple majority.

According to the latest tally announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan, the Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz-led coalition, which also includes the center-left Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and several smaller parties, has a combined strength of over 150 out of 266 direct seats in the National Assembly.

The coalition has also named former Prime Minister and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif as its candidate for the coveted post for a second term.

Sharif remained prime minister of a coalition government with almost the same parties for 16 months, from April 2022 to Aug. 2023, following the ouster of Imran Khan through a no-trust vote.

To form a government with a simple majority, a party requires 134 direct seats, which can be counted as 169 MPs after allocating members to reserved seats for women and religious minorities in the National Assembly.

The National Assembly has 336 seats, 60 reserved for women and 10 for religious minorities. -