ISLAMABAD, February 29, 2024: The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa convened on Thursday for the second sitting of its inaugural session to elect its Speaker and Deputy Speaker.

The following are key observations of the sitting:

• Mr. Babar Saleem Swati of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and Mr. Ihsanullah Khan of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) were nominated for the position of Speaker, while Ms. Suriya Bibi of SIC and Mr. Arbab Waseem of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf–Parliamentarians (PTI-P) were nominated for Deputy Speaker.
• A total of 106 members participated in the voting process for election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Mr. Babar Saleem Swati secured 89 votes, thus becoming the Speaker, while Mr. Ihsanullah Khan garnered 17 votes. The outgoing Speaker, Mr. Mushtaq Ghani, administered the oath to the newly-elected Speaker, Mr. Babar Saleem Swati.
• Ms. Suriya Bibi received 87 votes for the position of Deputy Speaker and was duly elected, while Mr. Arbab Waseem secured 19 votes. Subsequently, the newly-elected Speaker administered the oath to the Deputy Speaker.
• The session commenced 43 minutes later than scheduled, lasting a total of four hours and four minutes. Initially, 76 members were present, with the attendance reaching 100 by the end of the sitting
• The Speaker announced that elections for the Chief Minister would be conducted on Friday, March 1, 2024.
• The next sitting of the KP Assembly is scheduled to convene on Friday, March 1, 2024, at 1000 hours.

This factsheet is based on the direct observation of the House proceedings on February 29, 2024 by the Free and Fair Election Network.

For more updates, visit FAFEN Digital , www.fafen.org and www.openparlaiment.pk