Pakistan says first session of new parliament may be summoned between Feb. 22-29

Pakistan's interim information minister, Murtaza Solangi, speaks during a press conference in Islamabad on February 9, 2024. (APP)

• By law, Pakistan’s president must summon National Assembly’s session within 21 days of polling date 
• To become prime minister, a candidate must secure a simple majority of 169 votes out of a total of 336 

ISLAMABAD: The first session of Pakistan’s National Assembly comprising newly elected lawmakers is likely to be summoned between Feb. 22-29, state-run media quoted Caretaker Information Murtaza Solangi as saying on Thursday, as the country’s political parties gear up to elect a new prime minister and cabinet after last week’s controversial polls. 
Pakistan held polling for 264 National Assembly seats nationwide on Feb. 8., with polls marred by allegations of rigging and a nationwide shutdown of Internet and mobile phone services. As per Pakistan’s constitution, the president has to convene the first session of the National Assembly within 21 days of the polling date. 
A new speaker of the house is elected after the session is summoned, who then calls for the election of the prime minister. The prime minister must win a simple majority to become the leader of the house, which is 169 votes out of a total of 336. Of the 336 seats, 60 are reserved seats for women and 10 for non-Muslims. 
There can be multiple candidates for the post of prime minister, but if no candidate secures a majority in the first round, a second vote is held between the top two candidates. Voting continues until one person is able to secure a majority.
“Caretaker Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Solangi on Wednesday said the first session of the new National Assembly might be called on any date between February 22 and February 29,” the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said in a report. 
Solangi said Pakistan’s ministry of parliamentary affairs had taken up the matter of convening the first session of the new assembly immediately after the National Assembly Secretariat received the official results of the polls from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). 
The information minister clarified that the assembly’s speaker and deputy speaker are elected by lawmakers through secret balloting, while the process to elect the prime minister was otherwise. 
After a prime minister is elected, they take the oath of office and select the members of their federal cabinet. The caretaker set-up, headed by Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, will then hand over power formally to the new government.
Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has said it would attempt to form the government with the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) religious party in the center. While Khan’s independent candidates have secured 93 seats and the MWM has only one, former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif seems likely to win the prime minister’s election after securing the support of six Pakistani political parties this week. 
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party on Tuesday nominated Sharif as its candidate for prime minister. Together with the PML-N’s 75 seats, he has the support of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) which bagged 54 seats, the Muttahida Quami Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) which won 17 seats, and other smaller parties. 
Talks between the PML-N and its allies on the formation of the coalition government are expected to conclude today, Thursday.