Islamabad - As lawmakers at the National Assembly vote for the new Leader of House today, PML-N candidate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is likely to be elected as the new prime minister without facing much resistance.
The opposition parties, who have fielded five contenders for the coveted slot, had failed until Monday night to agree on a joint candidate. But even if they do reach an agreement today, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz led coalition has a solid numerical superiority.
But Abbasi, who has been brought forward after disqualification of Nawaz Shairf last week, will serve as Chief Executive of the country for an interim period of around 45 days.
According to the party plan, he will leave the premiership for the younger brother of Nawaz - Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif - when he is elected to the National Assembly through a by-election.
On Monday, the nomination papers of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and five members from opposition parties were accepted.
The ruling party is so sure about the victory of Abbasi, a six time MNA, that it has not even named a covering candidate.
PML-N’s chief whip in the National Assembly, Sheikh Aftab, will today utilise all his abilities to ensure that all the party members - especially the disgruntled ones- cast their vote for party’s designated interim PM.
Numerical position
A majority of 172 votes is needed to elect the prime minister in the 342-member lower house of parliament.
The PML-N herself has 188 members (including 35 elected on reserved seats and six minority members). And with the support of the JUI-F and the PkMAP the total strength of the coalition reaches to 209 members.
The PML-N even reached out to opposition parties for the support of their candidate, but only MQM-Pakistan, having 24 lawmakers, has decided to vote for Shahid Abbasi.
PML-N disgruntled members
When contacted, Sheikh Aftab was confident that not even a single member of his party will go against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
“All members love to follow the lines of our leader Nawaz Sharif, so nobody will ditch [him] at this stage,” he said.
The disgruntled members of PML-N have been expressing their reservations for denying opportunities to meet with former prime minister, saying they did not have even a single meeting with Nawaz Sharif in four years of his stint as premier.
Minister for IPC Riaz Pirzada, a couple of months ago, had also submitted resignation in protest, but it was not accepted.
When contacted, a PML-N lawmaker Hamid Hameed said that although they had certain reservations with the party leadership, they won’t deify them.
“We had expressed our reservation and it is the beauty of democracy to openly express their resentment on any issue,” he said.
He said they would keep expressing their reservations but keep following the directions of Nawaz Sharif and would definitely give vote to Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Filing of nomination papers
On Monday, PML-N candidate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, flanked by former ministers Khawaja Asif, Abdul Qadir Baloch, Sardar Yousaf, Sheikh Aftab, Saira Afzal Tarar, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and PML-Z leader Ejazul Haq, showed up in the Parliament to submit his nomination papers.
Abbasi while talking to the media said that he will take forward the development agenda of the party.
“The PML-N will win with a majority. The party will decide about the cabinet members,” he said.
The opposition members who submitted their nomination papers included PPP’s Khurshid Shah and Naveed Qamar, Awami Muslim League’s Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed (who is being backed by PTI), Jamaat-e Islami’s Sahibzada Tariqullah and MQM’s Kishwar Zahra.
According to the National Assembly Secretariat, the nomination papers of all six candidates were found complete.
Abbasi is facing a Rs220 billion corruption inquiry by the National Accountability Bureau. Rasheed objected to Abbasi’s nomination papers on the basis of that inquiry, but the objection was rejected.
During the scrutiny of nomination papers of Abbasi, no discrepancy was found and they were accepted, a secretariat official said.
He clarified that as per rules of business, the scrutiny of nomination papers for the election of the prime minister could only be done if the candidate was not a member of the assembly, or any provision of rule 32 has not been complied with, or the signature of the proposer, seconder or the candidate are not genuine.
Sahibzada Tariq Ullah after submitting his nomination papers said that the nomination form was very simple and no details of wealth had been asked.
The candidates can withdraw their nomination papers anytime before the election starting at 3pm today.
Opp parties meeting
The opposition parties met yesterday to reach agreement to field a joint candidate but the effort failed. They however agreed to meet again today (Monday) before voting in the assembly to make another effort but there are almost no chances of success in the prevailing situation.
Sources said there would be no joint opposition candidate as both the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Peoples Party are in no mood to back each other’s nominees.
The PPP does not want to support PTI nominee (Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed) due to the offensive language Imran Khan used against PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in his Sunday speech in Islamabad.
Fazl’s pledge of support
Extending unconditional support to Shahid Khaqan Abbassi, JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman said yesterday that they would stand by their senior coalition partner in the difficult time.
He told the media that his party’s Shura had decided to support PML-N candidate.
MQM-P meeting
According to our staff report, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) is likely to support PML-N candidate, though it had not announced the decision.
He cited sources as saying that the decision was taken in a meeting of MQM-P coordination committee held in Karachi to discuss the matter.
The committee members after discussion decided to throw their weight behind Abbassi and directed the parliamentarians to vote for the PML-N candidate.
However MQM-P Convener Dr Farooq Sattar in a statement said that the final decision in this regard was yet to be taken.
He said MQM-P has submitted the nomination paper of Kishwer Zehra for the election for PM.
A PML-N delegation led by Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair last night visited MQM-P headquarters in Bahadurabad. The meeting continued for one and a half hours and the PML-N delegates requested MQM-P to support Abbasi.
On the occasion Farooq Sattar expressed the party grievances - including the arrest of party workers and the missing of activists.
Sindh governor assured him that federal government would address their complaints and added that MQM-P is the key political forces of urban areas of Sindh and played a vital role for the betterment of provincial capital.
He clarified that as per rules of business, the scrutiny of nomination papers for the election of the prime minister could only be done if the candidate was not a member of the assembly, or any provision of rule 32 has not been complied with, or the signature of the proposer, seconder or the candidate are not genuine. Sahibzada Tariq Ullah after submitting his nomination papers said that the nomination form was very simple and no details of wealth had been asked.
The candidates can withdraw their nomination papers anytime before the election starting at 3pm today.