Prime Minister's Son Elected Chief Minister Of Pakistan's Largest Province Amid Melee

Hamza Shehbaz of the opposition alliance was elected chief minister of Pakistan's bellwether Punjab province amid a melee that left several lawmakers injured on Saturday.

Hamza Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, secured 197 votes in the 341-seat Punjab provincial assembly as the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allies boycotted the election.

A candidate needed 186 votes for a simple majority to form a government.

The deputy speaker, surrounded by security forces and using a megaphone, had the voting begun after a five-hour pandemonium, forcing the police and assembly security to intervene.

Parliamentarians thumped desks and chanted slogans as the deputy speaker declared Hamza the winner.

Earlier, opposing legislators wrestled with fists and roughed each other up in the Punjab Assembly, which has the highest number of legislators than any other provincial assembly, just moments before the election of a new chief minister.

The provincial assembly convened on the orders of a high court in Lahore, Punjab's capital, to elect the province's new chief minister, following the resignation of Usman Buzdar from the key office earlier this month.

Buzdar, a member of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), had stepped down amid an ongoing political crisis that already resulted in a successful no-confidence motion against former Prime Minister Imran Khan a week ago.

Footage on several local broadcasters showed a group of PTI lawmakers attacking and manhandling Deputy Speaker Dost Mohammad Mazari, who was presiding over the session on Lahore High Court orders.

This promoted opposition members to jump into the conflict, triggering a free-for-all in the house.

In the melee, rival parliamentarians threw fists and kicked each other.

Police arrested four MPs for their alleged involvement in the attack on the deputy speaker.

Several attempts were made to restore the order by an apparently helpless deputy speaker as the PTI women MPs surrounded and subsequently took his seat.

Among those injured was Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, the joint candidate of the PTI and the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) party, who claimed his right arm was fractured in an attack by rival MPs.

The PTI accused the deputy speaker, who is also a party member, of siding with the opposition, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), and its allies, which claimed to enjoy a simple majority to clinch the key post.

Opposition lawmakers and the sergeant-at-arms were seen accompanying the deputy speaker out of the parliament house.

Anti-riot police were also rushed in to avert more clashes between rival legislators and their supporters in and outside the house.

Infuriated lawmakers clashed with the policemen who tried to create a security barrier between them in the house.

The PTI nominated Elahi, the head of coalition partner PML-Q, as the new chief minister.

Elahi, who served as Punjab's chief minister from 2002 to 2007, is presently the speaker of the provincial assembly.

The dissidents of the PML (N), PPP, and PTI fielded Hamza Shehbaz, the incumbent opposition leader in the Punjab assembly, for the coveted office.

National Assembly gets new speaker

In a related development, the National Assembly, the lower house of the Pakistani parliament, elected a new speaker on Saturday.

Former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was elected unopposed as speaker.

His election followed the resignation of his predecessor, Asad Qaiser, who stepped down last week after refusing to take a vote on the no-confidence motion against the former prime minister.

Ashraf, a member of the PPP, the government's main coalition partner, was prime minister from 2012 to 2013. -