Pakistan parliament elects PTI's Asad Qaiser as speaker

Asad Qaiser, a lawmaker from Khan's Tahreek-e-Insaf party, secured 176 votes.

Pakistan's lower house of parliament has chosen Asad Qaiser to be its next speaker, indicating he has enough support to become prime minister despite lingering allegations of election fraud.

Qaiser, a lawmaker from Khan's Tahreek-e-Insaf party, secured 176 votes, edging out joint opposition candidate Khusheed Shah, who got just 146.

Vice Chairman PTI Shah Mehmood Qureshi Speech National Assembly Islamabad (15.08.18)#PrimeMinisterImranKhan #NationalAssembly @SMQureshiPTI pic.twitter.com/zNx15rmhXl
- PTI (@PTIofficial) August 15, 2018

History changed in KP :: PTI candidates successfully elected as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of KP Assembly for the second time in a row !#PTIrulesKP pic.twitter.com/V5LrRcyTAg
- PTI (@PTIofficial) August 15, 2018

Khan, a former cricket star and longtime politician, looks set to become prime minister when the National Assembly votes on Friday, and would be sworn in on Saturday.

Congratulations to @AsadQaiserPTI on been elected as Speaker of National Assembly !#PrimeMinisterImranKhan pic.twitter.com/BoMFo7qzY4
- PTI (@PTIofficial) August 15, 2018

Congratulations to Mehmood Jan on been elected as Deputy Speaker of KP Assembly!#PrimeMinisterImranKhan #PTIrulesKP pic.twitter.com/bBIVV4GNKw
- PTI (@PTIofficial) August 15, 2018

His party won the most votes in the July 25 election, but had to ally with independents to form a majority coalition.

Opposition parties have held regular protests and refused to accept the outcome of the vote, accusing the military and intelligence agencies of intervening on Khan's behalf.

• Pakistan