ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday summoned the first session of the newly-elected National Assembly to meet on Friday, setting the stage for a partial transfer of power to a civilian prime minister after three years of military rule.
The inaugural session of the 342-seat house on Nov 8 at the parliament house will be dedicated to oath-taking by the new members, to be followed by the election of the speaker and deputy speaker, and prime minister, for which three contenders are in the run.
The president’s move came 23 days after the Oct 10 elections and a day after the Election Commission allocated 60 seats reserved for women and 10 for non-Muslims to political parties on the basis of proportional representation.
It also came as the race for the prime minister’s slot appeared to be in the final stages with three main political groupings struggling to cobble together a reliable coalition at the centre.
“The elected members will be administered oath, following which the process of electing the speaker and deputy speaker and the leader of the house will be set in motion,” a government announcement said about Friday’s session.
However, it did not set the day of election for these three positions.
But a source in the Election Commission said the speaker and the deputy speaker could be elected on the first day.
But he said that “as a matter of routine” the leader of the house could be elected the next day in a session convened by the new speaker.
There was no official word when the four provincial assemblies would be convened.
JAMALI’S STAR SHINES: The political star of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali shone brighter on Saturday after the PML-Q formally named him as its prime ministerial candidate, but his two rivals seem determined to stop him.
The PML-Q has emerged with the largest number of seats in the house with 122 seats, but support from other groups can take it to the magic figure of 172 (in a house of 342) needed for the election of a prime minister.
But the two other candidates for the post — Makhdoom Amin Fahim of the 81-seat People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the 59-seat Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) — were struggling behind.
Jamali’s nomination seemed to have particularly hit the stars of Fahim who had taken an initial lead in the race by advocating the idea of a “government of national consensus”.
HILLTOP DECOY? But the idea appeared to have been blocked by Fahim’s friends and foes, despite his reported secret contacts with President Musharraf, including what was dubbed as a “chance meeting” at a hilltop restaurant outside Islamabad last week.
They said that the Oct 27 Musharraf-Fahim meeting could have been arranged to show that the establishment had a soft corner for the PPP nominee before the president left for Saudi Arabia, and Benazir Bhutto was in the United States voicing her concerns to the Bush Administration about the Oct 10 elections.
Political sources said the decisive moment came on Friday when the PML-Q announced Jamali’s candidature. He has been chief minister of Balochistan for two short-lived terms.
Jamali’s nomination could mean a PML-Q “no” to a coalition with the PPP or MMA, possibly due to their views regarding the supremacy of parliament and opposition to the president’s Legal Framework Order (LFO) containing the controversial constitutional amendments.
DELICATE COALITION: Any coalition in the divided National Assembly would remain unstable.
The PML-Q, with 122 members, can reach a simple majority with the expected support from the 16-seat National Alliance, 17-seat Muttahida Qaumi Movement, most of the 12 independents and some other pro-government groups.
But PPP with 81 seats, MMA with 59, and PML-N together could do the same if they succeeded in winning over MQM with 17 seats.