MONITORING (SW) – Shehbaz Sharif has been elected as the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan after 174 lawmakers voted in his favour as Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MNAs boycotted the election.
Earlier, PTI MNAs had walked out of the halls, with Shah Mahmood Qureshi — who was the party’s candidate for the top slot — announcing that they would be resigning en masse from the NA. PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq presided over the session after Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri his conscience did not allow him to conduct the session, reported Dawn news.
Announcing the results, Sadiq reminisced that he had also chaired a session during which PML-N supremo and Shehbaz’s elder brother was elected as the premier.
“Mian Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif has secured 174 votes,” he announced. “Mian Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif has been … elected as the prime minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
As soon as Sadiq announced the result and said Shehbaz was the new prime minister of Pakistan, lawmakers began shouting slogans in favour of Shehbaz and Nawaz.
The speaker asked Shehbaz to move to the seat of the prime minister in the house and he shifted to the treasury benches amid cheers, with other members of the former joint opposition following suit.
In his maiden address to the house as the prime minister, Shehbaz he thanked Allah for “saving Pakistan”.
He said it was the first time in Pakistan’s history that a no-confidence motion against a prime minister had been successful. “And good has prevailed over evil.”
Shehbaz today was a “big day” for the entire nation when a “selected” prime minister was sent packing in a legal and constitutional manner.
He added that the US dollar’s value declining by Rs8 signified the “happiness of the people”.
The newly elected prime minister also thanked the Supreme Court (SC) for burying the doctrine of necessity forever. “In the future, no one will be able to rely on it,” he said.
The development comes two days after an unceremonious end to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s tenure as the country’s chief executive through a no-confidence vote.
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