ISLAMABAD, August 15, 2018: The 15^th National Assembly elected its Speaker and Deputy Speaker on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings of the second sitting of the 1st session of the National Assembly:

 Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for eight hours and 57 minutes while the Chair suspended the proceedings for 32 minutes due to protest of Opposition lawmakers.
• The sitting started at 1037 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Outgoing Speaker of the Assembly presided over the proceedings for four hours and two minutes while the newly elected Speaker chaired the remaining proceedings.
• As many as 228 (67% of the total membership) members were present at the outset and 119 (35%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• As many as 330 lawmakers voted in election of the Speaker and 328 in election of the Deputy Speaker.

Election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker

• The House elected PTI’s Asad Qaisar and Qasim Khan Suri as its Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, respectively.
• Asad Qaiser got 176 votes out of total 330. Opposition’s nominee Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah got 146 votes. Eight votes were rejected.
• Qasim Khan Suri secured 183 out of total 328 votes while Maulana Asad Mehmood, the Opposition’s candidate got 144 votes. One vote was rejected.
• The Outgoing Speaker administered the oath to the Speaker-elect while the Deputy Speaker took oath from the Speaker.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as 13 lawmakers made felicitation speeches following the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker for 64 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on August 17, 2018 (Friday) at 1530 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on the National Assembly website.

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.