No less than 300 members of Pakistan’s new parliament huddled in the capital, Islamabad, on Thursday for the inaugural session after elections last month were marred by rigging allegations and deadly violence.

The coup-prone South Asian nuclear power held national elections on February 8 for only a third consecutive transfer of power between civilian governments after decades of periodic military rule.

But one of the largest democratic exercises in the world, with more than 128 million eligible voters, drew criticism globally and nationally with widespread allegations of rigging and military interference.

Former prime minister Imran Khan was barred from contesting and remained jailed in the run-up to the vote.

His loyalists said their imminent victory was snatched through manipulation.

The party of his rival, Nawaz Sharif, was set to elect its prime minister as head of a coalition government with at least five other groups.

Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz’s younger brother and former prime minister, was set to become the premier again, party spokesman Azam Nazir said ahead of the opening session.

The members took oath before queuing up to sign the rolls of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, in a televised ceremony.

Pakistan, a country with a more than 240 million population and a crumbling economy, looks unlikely to have the political stability needed to end a lingering economic crisis.

A cold-war ally of the West, Pakistan has, in recent years, been leaning toward China along with several other nations in the region. 

(dpa/NAN)