Pakistan assembly set to elect first woman speaker

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ISLAMABAD, Mar 19 (Reuters): Pakistan's National Assembly was set to elect its first woman speaker Wednesday, a member of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) which won elections last month.
Fehmida Mirza, 51, a medical doctor from a political family from Sindh province, is expected to easily defeat a candidate from the main party that backs President Pervez Musharraf.
"I am honored, I am humbled and happy," Mirza told reporters shortly before voting began.
"It is one thing to sit in opposition but this chair carries big responsibility ... I am feeling that responsibility today and will, God willing, come up to expectations," she said.
The lower house, meeting for its second session since members were sworn in Monday, was also expected to elect PPP member of parliament Faisal Karim Kundi as deputy speaker.
Mirza's husband is a former PPP member of parliament and a close friend of Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower who became co-chairman of her party after she was killed in a suicide attack on December 27.