Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Re-Elected

(CTN News) – On Sunday, Shehbaz Sharif was elected prime minister of Pakistan for the second time, despite sloganeering by the opposition, after comfortably winning a majority in the newly-elected Parliament.

In the 336-member Parliament, Shehbaz received 201 votes, 32 more than what was needed to become the leader of the House. Shehbaz, 72, was the consensus candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

Shehbaz’s challenger, Omar Ayub Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, obtained 92 votes.  Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the Speaker of the National Assembly,

Announced the results of the election appointing Shehbaz as 24th Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Shehbaz will take the oath of office at the Presidential mansion, Aiwan-e-Sadr, on Monday.

PTI-backed lawmakers kicked off the new parliament session with ruckus and sloganeering.

Members of the PTI-backed legislature shouted slogans of ‘Azaadi (freedom)’ and ‘Qaidi #804’, which refers to Imran Khan, who is currently incarcerated. In addition, some of the PTI-backed lawmakers held posters of Imran Khan.

PML-N lawmakers responded to the pro-Imran slogans by shouting ‘long live Nawaz’ and waving wristwatches at the opposition benches, referring to Khan’s corruption case in Toshakhana.

Nawaz Sharif, the party supremo of the PML-N, was the first person to vote for Shehbaz in the race for the office of prime minister.

As the PTI stated before the vote, the most gracious thing PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif could have done was to accept defeat.

As noted in a posting on the X network, “..but he choose to live his life in shame. Every day will be worse than the last for these Coalition Of Losers, especially Nawaz Sharif and Maryam!”.  

In April 2022, Shehbaz served as prime minister of a coalition government before Parliament was dissolved to hold general elections in August 2023.

As a result of the February 8 elections, the Sharif-led party failed to achieve a clear majority, although, technically, it is the largest party, with 75 seats out of 265 that were contested.

Along with the PPP, Shehbaz was backed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM-P), Pakistan Muslim League (Q), Balochistan Awami Party, Pakistan Muslim League (Z), Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party and National Party.

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