BREAKING: Shehbaz Sharif elected new Prime Minister of Pakistan

Pakistan has elected Shehbaz Sharif as the new Prime Minister on Monday. The leader of the joint opposition that ousted Imran Khan from the top post, Sharif is the President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). He had filed his nomination for the PM post yesterday.

Shehbaz Sharif was elected unopposed after rival Shah Mahmood Qureshi walked out of the national assembly, boycotting the polling process. He will take oath to the office tonight. 

Sharif was elected as the new and 23rd PM of Pakistan with 174 votes in favour, Panel of Chairs member Ayaz Sadiq announced while presiding the session. He is the younger brother of former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. 

Sharif’s election follows a high-octane couple of weeks in Pakistan where former PM Imran Khan lost his grip on power and was finally ousted after losing the no-confidence vote in the national assembly. Earlier, Imran’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has tried to evade the opposition move but the decision to not allow the no-confidence motion to go ahead was overturned by Pakistan Supreme Court.

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After Imran Khan’s ouster, Sharif and PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi had filed nominations for the prime ministerial post. However, Mahmood Qureshi and PTI lawmakers walked out of the NA, announcing a boycott of the polling process. This left Sharif as the sole candidate in the running and he was later elected as the PM.