Pakistan: Maryam Nawaz Becomes Punjab’s First Female Chief Minister

(CTN News) – The eldest daughter of Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif became the country’s first female chief minister in eastern Punjab.

I am glad to inform you that Mariam Nawaz, 50, was elected chief minister with a vote of 220-0. She beat the incumbent Rana Aftab, who had been nominated by the Sunni Ittehad Council, an ally of Imran Khan, who is currently in prison.

Members of the opposition who supported Khan, who was ousted from office in a no-confidence vote in parliament in 2022, boycotted the Punjab Assembly session.

She thanked God in a televised speech and promised that she would serve both those who voted for her and those who opposed her equally. There is no doubt that the doors of her heart and her office will remain open to the opposition as well.”.

As a result of the February 8 parliamentary elections, in which her father’s Pakistan Muslim League Party, or PML-N, emerged as the largest party in both the National Assembly and Punjab Assembly, Nawaz’s appointment was widely expected.

It emerged last Friday that the PML-N had won more seats than the candidates representing Khan’s supporters — Khan, who had been barred from running as an Islamist politician — having initially trailed candidates representing his supporters.

The PML-N was the largest single winner after capturing 20 out of the 60 seats reserved for women and four out of 10 seats reserved for minorities. A total of nine independent members have also joined the PML-N.

Nawaz Sharif’s uncle, former Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, is on track to become the next prime minister, his second term in office, as the PML-N joins forces with the Pakistan People’s Party, or PPP.

There have been two major families that have dominated Pakistani politics for decades: the Sharifs and the Khans. In 2017, Nawaz Sharif, who served three terms as prime minister, was evicted from power in a corruption case. Khan, who succeeded Sharif in 2018, granted him permission to travel to London for medical treatment.

As a result of his self-imposed exile abroad, Sharif returned to Pakistan and entered the political arena ahead of the elections. During her father’s absence, Nawaz was in charge of political campaigns and had taken over many of his responsibilities.

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