Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader and former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf was elected unopposed as the speaker of National Assembly on Saturday.
The development comes hours after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Qasim Suri resigned from the office of the deputy speaker, before a no-trust motion was set to be tabled against him.
The NA speaker’s seat was vacated on April 9 when PTI’s Asad Qaiser resigned. Qaiser said that he could not hold voting on the no-confidence motion that had been tabled against the then-prime minister Imran Khan. He said the move was a part of a “foreign conspiracy” against the PTI government.
PPP’s Ashraf took oath as the NA speaker shortly after he was elected unopposed. No other member other than Ashraf had submitted papers of nomination.
Talking to the media, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader and member panel of chairmen, Ayaz Sadiq said that voting on the motion was now needless.
Khursheed Shah and Naveed Qamar were the proposers and seconders of Raja Pervez Ashraf. Previously, media reports citing sources in the National Assembly Secretariat had said that in such a situation, Raja Pervez Ashraf could be elected unopposed as the speaker of the National Assembly.
