The newly constituted Nat­io­nal Assembly has elected the speaker and deputy speaker, as PTI-backed lawmakers continued their noisy protest during eight-hour-long proceedings, which saw some hard-hitting speeches from both sides of the aisle.

Syed Khursheed Shah of the PPP showed a goodwill gesture by going to all the PTI members sitting in the front row for a handshake with Barrister Gohar, Omer Ayub, Asad Qaiser, Sher Afzal Marwat and others.

Unlike opening day on Thursday, the PTI members showed a soft corner for the PPP as they remained silent when Asif Ali Zardari and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari came to cast their votes.

It was perhaps due to the noisy protest that the top leadership of the PPP and the PML-N preferred to leave the house immediately after casting their votes. Members of the JUI-F and Sardar Akhtar Mengal of the BNP boycotted the election process and did not attend the entire sitting.

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