Ex-Pakistan PM Gillani elected as Senate chairman

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): Former premier Yousaf Raza Gillani, a senior Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader, was elected unopposed as the Senate chairman on Tuesday.

Syedal Khan Nasir of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N was also elected unopposed as deputy chairman of the upper house.

In today’s session, disrupted and boycotted by supporters of ex-PM Imran Khan, protests from 41 newly-elected senators took oath as members.

The upper house effectively stopped its proceedings a month back with the retirement of 50 percent of its members.

A week back, elections on vacant Senate seats were held in Islamabad, Punjab and Sindh. However, in PTI-ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 Senate seats are yet to be filled.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hoped Gillani and Nasir would contribute to the “supremacy of the Constitution and the country’s development”.

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