Pakistan's parliament elects its first female Speaker

Mar 19, 2008, 18:29 GMT

Islamabad - Pakistan's parliament elected its first female house Speaker Wednesday.

Three-time MP Fahmida Mirza entered parliament in the morning to a greeting from members of all parties knocking on their desktops as a sign of approval. She had sailed through the vote, garnering the approvalof 249 of the 327 MPs.

Mirza is a member of the coalition leading Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. She is from southern Sindh province and was a close associate of Bhutto, who was from the same province.

Mirza, 51, comes from a political family. Her father, brother and husband, Zulfiqar Mirza, have all been MPs.

After being sworn in as Speaker, Mirza did not make a speech but went straight into overseeing parliament.

Senior PPP leader and former house speaker Yousaf Raza Geelani welcomed the vote of a woman as Speaker. 'It's a good step. It will promote Pakistan's soft image in the world,' he said.

The 13th National Assembly sworn in Monday has a record 76 women members of parliament.

The PPP, which leads the incoming coalition government, will also name the next prime minister who will lead the government, but Wednesday they still had not said who that would be.

The party cannot agree on a candidate and in the meantime current caretaker Prime Minister Muhammadmian Soomro will continue in the post.

The PPP finished first and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML- N) of Nawaz Sharif, also a former premier, finished second in the February 18 election, while the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), President Pervez Musharraf's political backers, finished a distant third.

The PPP and Sharif's party formed a coalition after ironing out differences concerning how to address the issue of restoring senior judges Musharraf deposed in November.

Restoring the judges has become a central issue for the coalition signaling a showdown with Musharraf.

Musharraf removed more than 60 senior judges under an emergency order on November 3. He sacked the judges to prevent the Supreme Court from disqualifying him for another presidential term.

Once the deposed judges are reinstated they can revoke the approval and force Musharraf to leave office. But Musharraf has shown no signs he will step down willingly.

But the situation is not in Musharraf's favour with the incoming coalition government having more than two-thirds majority in parliament with 225 of the 327 seats now occupied.

The public also supports the coalition, with a Gallup Pakistan survey published Wednesday finding 88 percent of the 1,416 people questioned nationwide supported them.