Bloomberg.com reports:
Mirza, nominated by the party of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistan Peoples Party, polled 249 votes to defeat Muhammad Israr Tarin, backed by supporters of the president, the state-run broadcaster said, citing the outgoing speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain. Bhutto was the first female to head the government in a Muslim country when she won the first of two elections in 1988.
The opposition coalition has about 225 seats in the 342- member National Assembly, short of a two-thirds majority in the two houses of parliament needed to impeach Musharraf. It has pledged to cut the president's powers, such as his authority to dismiss the Parliament.
Mirza’s opponent Sardar Mohammad Israr Tarin received 70 votes. As the name of Mirza was declared as the new speaker of the parliament, the members pounded on their desks to show their approval.
Dr. Fahmida Mirza was born in December, 1956, in
From the beginning of her political career, she has been associated with
In a meeting with the reporters after being nominated as the speaker, Mrs. Mirza said that it was her third tenure in the National Assembly and she believed that they should work together to face the major issues of the country.
One interesting fact behind Mirza’s election was that she bagged more votes than the combined seats of her party and its allies. This means, she also received votes from the opposition party as well.
It is true that this is a big change for
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