The Awami National Party has announced its support for Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in the presidential elections that are scheduled for March 9.

A delegation led by ANP President Aimal Wali Khan called on the former president at the Zardari House in Islamabad. They discussed the current political situation.

Zardari, who is the joint candidate of the PPP and the PML-N for the president, expressed his gratitude to the ANP leadership for their support in the presidential election.

He will be facing Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai in the presidential polls.

Aamir Dogar has denied that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has written any letter to the International Monetary Fund, urging the lender to ensure Pakistan election audit before any bailout talks.

“Have you seen the letter? There is only clamour for. If there will be any letter from our side that will be sent officially to somewhere or published or a media talk on it, it will be then [discussed],” he said in an interview with Tariq Chaudhry on Aaj Exclusive aired on Saturday.

When asked if he was saying that no letter has been written yet, he said: “I think no letter has so far been written.”

The denial from Dogar, the Sunni Ittehad Council’s chief whip in the National Assembly, comes three days after chairman Barrister Gohar Khan told a news conference in Islamabad that the party sent the letter to the IMF.

According to PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan, the letter was being sent “under the instructions and on behalf” of Khan. Party’s Zulfikar Bukhari had confirmed the letter to Reuters.

The PTI had agreed to support the lender’s financing facility for Pakistan on condition that free and fair elections be held in the country during the last interaction between Khan and IMF representatives in 2023.

The international lender had sought support from all political parties after agreeing with Islamabad on the $3 billion standby arrangement.

Last week, the IMF declined to comment on the country’s political situation after Khan’s aides said they would urge the Fund to call for an independent audit of the disputed elections before any more talks with Islamabad.

The multi-party coalition, which is expected to make the central government, slammed the letter. Imran Khan’s party called on the IMF to honour its commitment to demanding free and fair elections.

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Dogar was the party’s nominated candidate for the NA speaker slot. But he lost the election for the seat against PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq earlier this week.

In the interview, Dogar clarified that it could be a suggestion. “There is a big difference between writing a letter and a letter written.”

He went on to say that it could be an option. When the host pressed him on the letter, he asked that if it was written than “you should tell”. Dogar added that there was no such thing at the moment.

“It could be under consideration, a suggestion, or an option,” he said, “but as of now on record, there is no such thing.”

Partial disruption to the services of social media platform X passed the two-week mark in Pakistan on Saturday, with several experts urging the government to restore the services that went down more than a week after the polls.

The platform, formerly known as Twitter, was downed on Feb 16 night after former Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha claimed that he tampered with the election results during the February 8 poll.

But days after the press conference, Chatha retracted his claims and told the Election Commission of Pakistan that he made his statement about rigging in elections at the behest of a leader belonging to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

It’s not clear who blocked the services, but the inability to restore the internet was a violation of the Sindh High Court order.

“Any decision to restore access to the service will be deferred to an incoming government as per local media reports,” Netblocks, an independent internet observer, said in a post on X on Thursday.

Aaj News staff members in Karachi also faced difficulty in getting access to the service on browser and mobile.

It merits here to mention that mobile internet services were cut across the country on the election day, with the interior ministry citing security reasons.

The blackout, coupled with a long delay in issuing voting results, gave rise to allegations of rigging.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter Amir Muqam blasted on Saturday the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers and workers for misbehaving with one of his party’s female MPAs in the KP Assembly.

Addressing a news conference in Peshawar, the PML-N leader said that the PTI workers violated the “Pashtun traditions” by misbehaving with a woman MPA.

It is pertinent to mention that shoes and a ‘lota’ were thrown at PML-N MPA Sobia Shahid in the maiden session of the KP Assembly after she waved a wristwatch.

Later, a video went viral showing PTI lawmakers making derogatory and vulgar remarks against Sobia.

Muqam demanded an inquiry into the incident to reveal who issued cards to the culprits involved in hooting and abusing PML-N lawmakers especially woman MPAs of the opposition in the KP Assembly.

The PML-N leader vowed to approach the Federal Investigation Agency against the culprits. The party will take its matter to the federal institutions if the provincial government fails to act on the complaint, he added.

He also criticised the PTI leaders and lawmakers for failing to condemn the incident, while urging that the political differences should not be turned into personal animosity.

The election process for picking a new president in Pakistan is more expansive than the election of the prime minister or many other constitutional positions.

While the prime minister, Senate chairman, and speakers of national and provincial assemblies are elected by a single legislature, the president of Pakistan is voted into power by six houses, e.g., the Senate of Pakistan, National Assembly, and provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

This month, over 1100 lawmakers will participate in the voting process but their votes will not carry equal weight.

Weightage formula

The president represents the federation of Pakistan. Hence, all the provincial assemblies have an equal say in the election of the president.

Under a weightage formula laid out in the second schedule of the Constitution, votes in the provincial assemblies are divided by the total strength of the smallest provincial assembly, that is, Balochistan.

This means 371 votes of the Punjab Assembly will be divided by 65, the total seats in the Balochistan Assembly. It gives us a weightage score of 5.71 after rounding off. In other words, 5.71 votes polled in favour of a candidate in the Punjab Assembly mean a single vote.

Ballots cast in Senate and National Assembly are counted in the usual way, that is, one valid ballot paper cast in favour of a candidate means one vote.

Polling stations

The polling for the presidential election is held at the Parliament in Islamabad and four provincial assemblies in Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.

The second schedule of the Constitution says that the chief election commissioner (CEC) will be the returning officer for the election of the presiding. The CEC appoints presiding officers to conduct the polling.

Read: SIC names Achakzai its presidential candidate as election process begins

In March 2024, ECP appointed the chief judges of the high courts in Sindh, KP, Balochistan and Islamabad as the presiding officers. In Punjab, an ECP member was appointed the presiding officer.

One ballot paper is issued to each of the lawmakers in the Senate, National Assembly and four provincial assemblies.

The name of the candidates is written in alphabetic order on the ballot papers.

The election is held by a secret vote as mandated by the Constitution.

“The poll shall be secret ballot by means of ballot papers containing the names of all the candidates in alphabetical order who have not withdrawn, and person voting shall vote by placing a mark against the name of the person for whom he wishes to vote.”

ECP prints ballot paper books with the counterfoil and each ballot paper is authenticated by the presiding officer with their initials.

The candidate securing the highest number of votes becomes the president of the country.

The result is announced by the CEC who also notifies it to the federal government which issues a notification.

The President of Pakistan administers the oath to the prime minister and many other officials. But do you know who administers the oath of office to the president?

This has been an exam question too. It is the chief justice of Pakistan who administers the oath to the president.

In September 2018, President Arif Alvi was sown in by the then CJP Justice Saqib Nisar. He replaced Mamnoon Hussain from PMLN.

Role of the president

The president is largely ceremonial in Pakistan and functions as the head of the state but not the government.

The oath of office, as laid out in the third schedule of the Constitution, says that the president “will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions.”

However, President Arif Alvi and before him, President Asif Ali Zardari have proven some of the most active presidents in the history of the country.

The office wielded considerable power when Zardari became president in 2008, but he relinquished most of the authority to parliament. Still, he played an active political role.

President Alvi used his ceremonial position to block several moves by the PDM government. His last act was an attempt to block the inaugural session of the new parliament, but he relented at the eleventh hour.

Nomination papers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shehbaz Sharif and Sunni Ittehad Council’s Omar Ayub for the top spot of prime minister were accepted on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Shehbaz who is the candidate of the ruling alliance for the chief executive post submitted his papers to the National Assembly.

Leaders from PML-N and Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) including Ishq Dar, Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal and Khursheed Shah submitted the papers to the National Assembly Secretary.

As many as seven lawmakers have been named Proposers and Approvers from the alliance parties in Sharif’s nomination papers.

Sharif will be up against Omay Ayub Khan who is the nominee of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for the top slot. Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) submitted the nomination papers of Khan for the top seat.

PTI leaders Asad Qaiser, Ali Muhammad Khan and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan submitted his papers for the prime minister’s election.

The deadline for submitting the nomination papers was 2:00pm on Saturday while the scrutiny was conducted by 3:00pm.

The election for the prime minister will be held tomorrow (March 3) in a show-of-hand under Article 226 of the Constitution.

Sarfraz Bugti, who was elected unopposed as the chief minister of Balochistan, on Saturday reiterated that his government plans to continue engaging in dialogue with armed groups active in the province.

Bugti was sworn in as the chief minister of Balochistan after he secured a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly.

Governor Abdul Wali Kakar administered oath to the newly-elected CM in a ceremony held at the Governor House.

In a 65-member house, at least 41 MPAs voted in favour of Bugti. JUIF and the National Party did not participate in the voting process.

JUIF has 13 lawmakers in the Balochistan Assembly and National Party 4.

“Deterrence and dialogue are the two options that the government has to address the [law and order] situation in Balochistan,” he said in his victory speech.

Bugti urged the Baloch dissidents to continue their struggle while adhering to the Constitution of Pakistan as he resolved that there would be no compromise on the state’s writ.

The nomination papers for the chief minister election were submitted on Friday. Since Bugti was the only candidate in the election he was declared a winner but the formal election process was completed only on Saturday when a vote was held.

On Saturday, Bugti arrived at the Balochistan Assembly in official protocol.

Balochistan’s speaker and deputy speaker too were elected unopposed on Friday.’

Bugti joined PPP before the February 8 election. He served as the federal interior minister in the caretaker setup for months but stepped down days before the election schedule was announced to become a candidate in the election.

After winning a provincial assembly seat he resigned from the Senate of Pakistan last week.

The Sunni Itehad Council (SIC) has named Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai as its candidate in the presidential election due to be held on March 9.

Achakzai will be competing against Asif Ali Zardari who is a joint candidate of PMLN, PPP and other parties.

The process for the election of the next president began on Saturday with ECP-appointed president officers receiving the nomination papers. ECP appointed the chief judges of the high courts in Sindh, KP, Balochistan and Islambad as the presiding officers on Friday. In Punjab, the ECP member will be the presiding officer.

Potential candidates have been told to submit their nomination paper before 12pm Saturday. The scrutiny will be held on March 4 and candidates will have until March 5 to withdraw from the race if any of them wanted to.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah submitted nomination papers on behalf of Asif Ali Zardari at the Sindh High Court on Saturday. A party spokesperson said Murad Ali Shah was the proposer in the nomination papers that were seconded by Nasir Hussain Shah.

PTI sources said Imran Khan had approved Achakzai’s name as the party’s candidate.

Other sources within the party claimed Khan was yet to grant his assent and will likely do so when party leaders meet him later today.

PTI’s Sher Afzal Marwat indicated in a television appearance on Friday that the party was going to nominate Achakzai as its candidate in the presidential election.

PTI-backed lawmakers have joined SIC in the national and provincial assemblies. Hence, the SIC nominee is essentially a PTI nominee.

The incumbent president, Arif Alvi, who is from PTI, has already completed his five-year term but continues to serve as the president until the election of his successor.

The new president will be elected by an expansive electoral college that comprises all the lawmakers in the national and provincial assembly as well as in the Senate of Pakistan.

While PTI has a majority in the KP Assembly, other assemblies are dominated by PMLN and PPP.

At least six supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf were arrested in Lahore during the party’s protest against alleged vote rigging on Saturday. Party leader Shahzad Farooq was among them.

There were reports that lawyers taking part in the demonstration were locked in the parking area.

Workers of the Imran Khan’s party gathered at different locations at 2pm across the country to protest against the elections results, which it claims were not according to the Form 45s.

They protested in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Chakwal, Dhabeji, Layyah, Karachi, Khanewal, Sialkot, Toba Tek Singh, Muzaffarhgarh, and other major cities. Protest in Peshawar, where the PTI is in majority, was postponed due to rain.

Police in Islamabad and Lahore had beefed up security after the announcement. The federal capital police had also banned gatherings of more than five people under Section 144 of the CrPC on Saturday.

They had put the security on “high alert” in the city.

Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) empowers district administration to issue orders in the public interest that may place a ban on an activity for a specific period of time.

The police also increased patrolling in the city and deployed additional personnel at checkpoints.

The police said there was possibility of traffic congestion near the F-9 Park and advised people to avoid the area around the location.

An Islamabad police spokesperson also advised people to carry ID documents with them and be cooperative with the policemen at checkpoints.

Over 30 locations in Punjab

The PTI had announced over 30 locations in the Punjab province alone for its protests

The protests were set to begin at 11am on Saturday.

Karachi

Supporters of PTI protested outside the Karachi Press Club. Party leaders Khurram Sherzaman, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Alamgir Khan, Zahoor Masood, Fiza Zeeshan, and Saifur Rehman addressed party workers.

They demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan should issue results according to the Form 45.

Protest was also held in the Sindh province, especially in Thatta, Jamshoro, Dhabeji and Hyderabad where Haleem Adil Shaikh led some of the rallies.

Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) leader Sarfraz Bugti was elected unopposed as the chief minister of Punjab on Friday.

Bugti was the sole candidate for the coveted slot as no other member of the provincial assembly submitted nomination papers.

The voting process for his election will be conducted tomorrow (Saturday) where Bugti will have to secure 33 votes in the House of 65 members.

It is pertinent to mention that the newly-elected chief minister of Balochistan served as the caretaker interior minister.

He later resigned from the post ahead of the general elections that were held on February 8.

Newly-formed ruling alliance is yet to finalise its finance minister, the person who has to lead an immediate effort to negotiate a new International Monetary Fund bailout, sources familiar with the discussions said.

The struggling $350 billion economy has a narrow path to recovery and the current IMF agreement expires on April 11, with critical external financing avenues linked to securing another extended programme.

Former four-time finance minister Ishaq Dar remains the top contender, according to two sources in his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, which is leading the coalition.

PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif has been nominated by the alliance to be prime minister in an election scheduled for March 3. He will announce his cabinet, including the finance minister, shortly after being elected.

But Dar is not the only candidate being considered, the sources said. Despite being a relative of, and close aide to, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, many political allies have criticised Dar’s handling of the economy in the last coalition set up.

He, however, has defended his actions, saying he had to take tough measures to avert a sovereign default by securing the IMF programme, which former prime minister Imran Khan had scuttled days before leaving his office, a charge Khan denies.

Pakistan struggled for over four months to lock in the stand-by arrangement last summer when Dar was finance minister, and it took the intervention of his prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, to secure a last-ditch deal.

Dar also regularly criticised the IMF on public platforms in the middle of negotiations, and has long favoured market interventions to prop up the Pakistani rupee - something the IMF has warned against.

If Dar doesn’t get the portfolio, his party might consider creating a position of deputy prime minister for him, one of the sources in the PML-N said.

Also being considered are caretaker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar, a former central bank governor, who is overseeing key policy measures under the current IMF programme, both sources said.

Akhtar has been a key part of the caretaker set up that has been praised by the IMF for “decisive policy efforts” to maintain stability.

Another name being considered is Muhammad Aurangzeb, president and chief executive officer of the country’s largest bank, Habib Bank Limited, the sources said.

Aurangzeb had also served as the CEO of JP Morgan’s Global Corporate Bank based in Asia.

Akhtar did not respond to a Reuters request for a comment and Aurangzeb’s HBL said it would not comment on “rumours and speculations.”

A PML-N spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Dar himself told reporters before the parliament’s inaugural session on Thursday that there was no decision yet when asked if he would be the choice for finance minister again.

PML-N senior leader Irfan Siddiqui told the local newspaper The News that Dar will “most probably” be picked for the post.

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Aside from negotiating a new and extended IMF programme, the new finance minister will have about three months to prepare a federal budget that will need to strike a difficult balance between tough reforms and rejuvenating a struggling economy.

The PML-N, leading a minority government, will be relying on the support of different parties to pass critical legislation, with alliance partner Pakistan Peoples Party saying it would support the government on an issue-to-issue basis.

Efforts to assuage growing public anger at record inflation hovering around 30% will also be challenging with limited fiscal space.

“Pakistan needs someone who has broad and in-depth international experience to introduce the kind of reforms that have helped many other countries to come out of economic crises,” said Yousuf Nazar, a London-based economist and former Citigroup banker. He however declined to say who was best suited.

Earlier this week, the Business Recorder while citing sources reported that the new finance czar would be from the PML-N as the ruling alliance was not ready to accept any technocrat. But Dar was not among the candidates for the coveted slot.

Auranzgeb’s name is interesting because it is the second name coming from the HBL as earlier bank’s chairman Sultan Ali Allana’s name was making rounds in the media.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Amin Gandapur was elected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister on Friday after securing 90 votes in the House of 106 members.

Unlike most of the PTI-backed independent lawmakers, the newly-elected chief minister of KP decided against joining the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) as he submitted papers for the provincial president of the PTI in the intraparty election.

Born to a prominent family in 1978 with a political background in Dera Ismail Khan, Gandapur began his political career with Imran Khan’s PTI in 2007.

His father Major Aminullah Gandapur (Retd) served as a caretaker cabinet member during the tenure of former president General Pervez Musharraf.

Read: Imran Khan nominates Ali Amin Gandapur for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM

Gandapur received his early education in his hometown and he matriculated from Police Public School in Peshawar. He then went on to graduate from the National College of Arts, Lahore in fashion design.

During the first tenure of the PTI in KP, he was the Provincial Minister of KP for Revenue and Estate in the then-CM Pervez Khattak’s cabinet.

In the 2018 general election, Gandapur defeated JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on the NA-38 seat and was given the portfolio of Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan on October 5, 2018.

During his tenure in the ministry, he began work to make Gilgit-Baltistan a province.

Between 2022 and 2023, Gandapur served as the provincial general secretary of the PTI and kept the party alive and active as PTI faced tough times following the May 9 riots.

The KP’s newly-elected CM contested on the National Assembly’s NA-44 constituency and defeated JUI- F chief while he was also declared the winner on PK-113.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ali Amin Gandapur was elected the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday.

He secured 90 votes in the House of 106, while PML-N’s Ibadullah Khan ended up with 16 votes.

Addressing the KP Assembly, Gandapur said the police must quash all the FIRs that were not backed by evidence, regardless of who was nominated in them.

If such FIRs were not quashed within a week, the officer who registered the FIR should prepare themselves for punishment, he warned.

Gandapur also demanded a judicial inquiry in the May 9 riots and said it should be noted who was the beneficiary.

The newly-elected chief minister contested the election as an independent after the Supreme Court stripped the PTI of its electoral symbol.

While most of the PTI-backed lawmakers joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Gandapur was among the few top leadership who decided against joining the SIC.

Sources said that the decision was taken in the light of the PTI’s intra-party election, in which Gandapur submitted nomination papers for the party’s provincial president.

Pakistan Peoples Party has nominated Sarfaraz Bugti as its candidate for the post of Balochistan’s chief minister.

Bugti was elected to the Balochistan Assembly from PB-10 and had resigned as a member of the Senate three days ago.

He was also part of the caretaker cabinet as the federal minister for interior but left his post with just over a month left in the elections.

Bugti has also served as the provincial interior minister in the previous government.

PPP is the largest party in the Blochistan Assembly with 11 seats, followed by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz with 10 seats.

The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced the schedule of the election of the president of Pakistan.

According to the schedule the polling for the election will take place on March 9 from 10 am to 4 pm in the parliament house and all four provincial assemblies.

Nomination papers for the candidacy can be submitted till March 2 and will be scrutinised on March 4.

Candidates will be allowed to withdraw nomination papers till March 5 after which a final list of candidates will be published.

The chief election commissioner himself will be the returning officer for the elections while returning officers will be announced for each assembly.

Islamabad High Court’s chief justice will be the PO in Senate and National Assembly, provincial chief justices will be POs in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.

However, the member election will be the PO in Punjab.

At least 31 members of the United States Congress have called on the Joe Biden administration from witholding recognition of Pakistan’s new government until elections are investigated.

The letter has been addressed to President Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and calls for a ‘thorough, transparent, and credible investigation of election interference’ before the new government is recognised.

“We write to express our concerns about pre- and post-poll rigging in Pakistan’s recent parliamentary elections,” the letter says.

The lawmakers have also asked the US government to urge Pakistani authorities to release political prisoners and gather information about their cases.

The thrid and final demand says that the US should ‘make clear to Pakistani authorities that U.S. law provides for accountability for acts that violate human rights, undermine democracy, or further corruption, including the potential for military and other cooperation to be halted’.

The letter also notes that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan was sentenced to prison in two separate cases just days before the country went to the polls.

“Concerns arose after delays in reporting final results and early returns showed PTI-backed candidates on a path to victory. Over the coming days and weeks, previously reported vote totals allegedly changed dramatically,” the letter reads.

The letter added that the claims of election rigging have been lent credibility by findings by credible organisations including FAFEN. It also expounded on the discrepancies between Forms-45 and 47.

“Given the strong evidence of pre- and post-poll rigging, we urge you to wait until a thorough, transparent, and credible investigation has been conducted before recognizing a new Pakistani government,” the letter said, adding that recognising the government without such an inquiry would enable anti-democratic behaviour.

“It is in the U.S. interest to ensure that democracy thrives in Pakistan and that election results reflect the interests of the Pakistani people, not the interests of the Pakistani elite and military,” it said.

The letter is led by Representatives Greg Casar and Susan Wild, and signed by representatives Donald Beyer, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, André Carson, Judy Chu , Yvette Clarke, Madeleine Dean, Lloyd Doggett, Veronica Escobar, Jesús “Chuy” García, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Steven Horsford, Pramila Jayapal, Hank Johnson, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Greg Landsman, Barbara Lee, Summer Lee, Jim McGovern, Ilhan Omar, Frank Pallone, Jamie Raskin, Jan Schakowsky, Rashida Tlaib, David Trone, Marc Veasey, Nydia Velázquez, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq was elected as the speaker of the National Assembly for the third time while PPP’s Ghulam Mustafa Shah was elected as his deputy amid a noisy session on Friday.

In his speech, Shah thanked his party leadership and coalition partners for putting trust in him.

Shah was elected as the deputy speaker of the National Assembly with 197 votes while his opponent Junaid Akbar, from the SIC, secured 92 votes.

After the election, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq administered the oath to Shah.

Sadiq was elected after defeating the SIC’s Aamir Dogar. A total of 291 votes were polled, out of which 290 were valid. Sadiq received 199 votes while Dogar received 91 votes.

Sadiq walked over to Dogar to shake his hand right after the announcement of the results.

In his speech, PTI’s Dogar said that his party was ready for reconciliation if its “stolen” mandate was returned.

He urged the newly elected speaker to play a role in returning the PTI its mandate. “You played a role in 2013. We are ready to cooperate but first give our stolen mandate back to us and also our reserved seats,” Dogar said.

He claimed that he would have received 225 votes, if Form 45 was used to compile results in general elections on Feb 8.

After being sworn in as the NA speaker, Sadiq called upon both sides of the aisle to work together for the betterment of the country.

He appreciated Dogar for playing his part in the democratic process. “Amir Dogar sahib, you have always given me respect and called me ‘Ayaz bhai’. God-willingly, I will prove to be an elder brother.”

Sadiq referred to some of the PTI backed MNAs as “friendly brothers with whom I have a relation other than politics”.

He added that the government and the opposition were like “two wheels of a car”.

Nomination papers for both slots were filed on Thursday after 302 members of the house took oath as MNAs.

Newly-elected members of the National Assembly were sworn in as lawmakers on Thursday amid uproar from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) who raised slogans.

At least 23 reserved seats in the National Assembly have not been allotted to any political party.

Barrister Gohar has once again been elected unopposed as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s chairman in the intra-party elections.

According to the final list of candidates issued by the party on Thursday, the only candidate for the post of chairman is Barrister Gohar.

This effectively means that Gohar will be elected as chairman without any competition. However, the decision will be made official when the elections are carried out on March 3.

Voting for the elections will be carried out in the party’s central and provincial secretariats.

Apart from Gohar, four other people have been elected to their posts without any competition as well.

These include Omar Ayub as secretary general, Yasmin Rashid as Punjab president, Haleem Adil Sheikh as Sindh President and Ali Amin Gandapur as KP president.

However, three panels are contesting for the party’s leadership of Balochistan.

These include panels led by Amin Khan Jogazai, Dawood Shah and Munir Ahmad Baloch.

PTI decided to hold its intra-party elections once again after the previous polls were struck down by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The decision meant that the party was not able to use its symbol, bat, in the general election. Instead, all PTI candidates had to enter the polls as independent candidates.

Two prominent leaders of the PTI, Sher Afzal Marwat and Ali Mohammad Khan, wore masks depicting the face of their leader Imran Khan to the National Assembly on Thursday.

The duo arrived at the Parliament wearing the masks as the National Assembly met for the first time since the February 8 election.

Several other PTI-backed independently-elected lawmakers carried party flags to the House and raised slogans.

Before entering the House, Marwat and Khan clicked photos in Paliarment’s corridors.

One of the photos that has now gone viral showed both leaders wearing the same masks and standing next to each other.

Other PTI members also clicked photos with them.

The United States administration has stated that it would support Pakistan’s efforts to break free from the vicious cycle of debt and international financing as the South Asian country is expected to seek a new International Monetary Fund loan programme in the coming months.

“The long-term health of Pakistan’s government – or economy is crucial to its stability,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in response to a query at a weekly press briefing on Wednesday.

He was asked about Imran Khan, the former prime minister, letter to the IMF in which he asked the lender to factor in countries’ political stability in any further bailout talks.

Khan asked the IMF to audit thirty per cent of the country’s seats in the general elections. The party told the Fund that it does not wish to ‘stand in the way’ of any funds being extended to Pakistan. But it added that only a popular government can implement reforms, especially related to taxation.

Miller in his response stated that the new Pakistani government should prioritise the economic situation because the policies over the next several months would be crucial to maintaining economic stability for Pakistanis.

“And we urge Pakistan to continue working with the IMF and other international financial institutions towards macroeconomic reforms,” he said.

Pakistan’s cash-strapped economy is struggling to stabilise from a financial crisis and secured a $3 billion standby arrangement from the IMF last summer.

Pakistan’s vulnerable external position means that securing financing from multilateral and bilateral partners will be one of the most urgent issues facing the next government, ratings agency Fitch said last week.

Earlier in the day, caretaker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar confirmed to Reuters that China has rolled over a $2 billion loan to Pakistan which was due in March.

Last week, a Pakistani official told Bloomberg News that Pakistan plans to seek a new loan of at least $6 billion from the IMF to help the incoming government repay billions in debt due this year.

At the weekly press briefing, a journalist also sought an update on Pakistani authorities approaching the US for consular access to four foreign nationals charged last week in the US for transporting suspected Iranian-made weapons on a vessel intercepted by US Naval forces in the Arabian Sea.

“I would defer that question to the Department of Justice. When people are taken into federal custody, they are held by the Department of Justice, and it is that department that decides matters of consular access,” he said.