Pakistan's lower house of parliament has chosen a lawmaker from the Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI) party to be the parliament speaker following general elections in July that were marred by allegations of fraud.

AsadQaiser on August 15 secured 176 votes in the legislature to defeat Khusheed Shah, a joint candidate backed by opposition parties who received 146 votes.

PTI leader Imran Khan, a former cricket star turned politician, appears set to become prime minister when the 342-seat National Assembly votes on August 17. A swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for August 18.

The July 25 elections were won by the PTI, knocking former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) from power.

But the PTI must ally with independents to form a majority coalition….

Supporters of the opposition parties have protested alleged fraud and voting irregularities in the elections, directly blaming the country's powerful military.

The army denies it intervened to help Kahn take power. Khan has vowed to investigate the allegations once he takes office.

A monitoring team from the European Union has said the election results "overall" were "credible," although they criticized the campaign -- saying it was marred by the intimidation of some candidates, an effort to undermine the former ruling party, and media self-censorship.

Violence leading to at least 31 deaths also was reported on election day.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and Dawn

Pray for the new speaker of the Parliament and Prime Minister of Pakistan that they and other government leaders will take the nation off its destructive course.
Pray that the influence of radical Islamists and occult practitioners called “pirs” will be broken over the nation and the way it is ruled.
May the Gospel speed on throughout Pakistan’s many unreached people groups so they can be set free from the awful spiritual darkness and violence that engulfs this land.
May the Christians be strengthened, emboldened and protected to play their crucial role in prayer and action.