Pakistan: PPP's Raja Pervaiz Ashraf elected National Assembly speaker unopposed

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Friday was elected as the new speaker of the National Assembly unopposed as predicted before.

Ashraf had a high chance of getting elected as speaker since no other NA member had submitted their nomination papers.

The seat fell vacant on April 3 after the resignation of Asad Qaiser who, hours before the Supreme Court's deadline for the vote of no-confidence motion was to expire, addressed the assembly to announce the decision, reported The Express Tribune.

"I am liable to the Constitution and the most important demand of the oath is to protect the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan," he said.

The former speaker said that the then-cabinet had shared the alleged "threat letter" with him and asked the lawmakers to stand for the country's sovereignty.

"I can no longer remain on the seat of the speaker and I resign," Qaiser had said. He also said that he accepts the Supreme Court's decision and asked former speaker Ayaz Sadiq to run the session.

Meanwhile, a National Assembly session has been summoned which would be held at 12 noon tomorrow (Saturday), reported The Express Tribune.

( With inputs from ANI )

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