ISLAMABAD: Shehbaz Sharif was voted in on Sunday (Mar 3) as Pakistan’s prime minister for a second time, presiding over a shaky alliance that has shut out followers of jailed opposition leader Imran Khan.
Newly sworn-in lawmakers in Pakistan’s National Assembly elected Sharif by 201 votes, three weeks after national elections marred by widespread allegations of rigging.
“Shehbaz Sharif has been declared to have been elected as prime minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” said newly appointed speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.
Omar Ayub Khan stood against Sharif as the candidate of choice for MPs loyal to Khan, gaining 92 votes.
The Sharif family’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party allied with their historic rivals the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), as well as several smaller factions, to keep Khan’s candidates out.
In return, the PPP – a dynastic party ruled by the family of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto – have been promised the office of president for Bhutto’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari.
Ex-prime minister Khan was jailed in the run-up to the February 8 polls and barred from contesting, while his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was targeted by a crackdown of arrests and censorship.
PTI candidates were forced to run as independents, but nonetheless secured more seats than any other party.
They fell short, however, of the figures needed to form a government, paving the way for Sharif’s return.
Source: CNA
