UPDATE - Pakistan’s newly elected parliament set to open

ADDS PRESIDENT'S DECISION TO SUMMON SESSION, CHANGES HEADER, LEDE AND DECK

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan’s president has decided to summon the inaugural session of the National Assembly on Thursday after signing a summary in a late-night development.

The development came hours after the National Assembly Secretariat issued a notification Wednesday summoning the session to elect the speaker, deputy speaker and leader of the house for the next five-year term.

Earlier, Alvi had refused to summon the session, arguing that the house is incomplete since the Election Commission of Pakistan has not allotted reserved seats for women and religious minorities to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), a new home to jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

The president approved the summoning of the National Assembly session with "reservations” and with the hope that the issue of reserved seats would be resolved in line with the constitution, said a statement from the President's Office.

Expressing disappointment over the "tone and allegations" leveled in the summary sent by caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, the president said he cannot ignore "irregularities in the electoral process and the formation of the government."

Alvi, who belongs to the PTI, contended that he had returned the caretaker prime minister's previous summary in line with the constitution

The majority of PTI-backed independents have joined the SIC, a small religiopolitical party, intending to gain more seats in the national and provincial assemblies reserved for women and religious minorities.

Nevertheless, the Election Commission has yet to allot the reserved seats.

The electoral body allocates reserved seats based on the proportion of a party's winning seats in the house.

Under the country's constitution, the president will summon the first session within 21 days after the general election, in this case by Feb. 29 after polls were held on Feb. 8.

The PTI, which supported Alvi’s decision to not summon the sitting, however, has announced that its affiliated lawmakers will attend the inaugural session to take their oaths of office.

- Hung parliament

The crucial Feb. 8 elections resulted in a hung parliament, with no party securing two-thirds of the seats needed to form the government with a simple majority.

According to the latest tally announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led coalition, which also includes the center-left Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and several smaller parties, has a combined strength of over 150 out of 266 direct seats in the National Assembly.

The coalition has also named former Prime Minister and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif as its candidate for the coveted post for a second term.

Sharif remained prime minister of a coalition government with almost the same parties from April 2022 to August 2023 following the ouster of Imran Khan through a no-trust vote.

To form a government with a simple majority, a party requires 134 direct seats, which can be counted as 169 MPs after allocating members to reserved seats for women and religious minorities in the National Assembly.

The National Assembly has 336 seats, with 60 reserved for women and 10 for religious minorities.