Supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan chant slogans during a protest after a no-confidence vote, in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Highlights
- Shehbaz Sharif has been elected as new Pakistan PM
- During national assembly session, members of Pakistan's PTI resigned en masse to show protest
- Pakistan may now proceed towards by-polls to fill vacant seats left by PTI lawmakers
Pakistan National Assembly on Monday elected unopposed chief of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Shehbaz Sharif as the new Prime Minister. He is expected to take oath as the 23rd PM of Pakistan tonight. Shehbaz was elected as new PM amid mass resignations by the members of Imran Khan's party PTI from the national assembly who walk out during the session to the elect the new PM. Post en mass resignation by PTI members, the country is now seems to be moving towards bypolls.
Speaking on the matter to a Pakistani news channel earlier, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said that by-elections would be held on vacant seats if the PTI members resigned.
Iqbal further said that he believed that most members of the PTI parliamentary party would oppose mass resignations.
Slamming Imran Khan's advisers, Ahsan Iqbal said that he (Imran) has many un-elected advisers and they are giving him such ideas. He even added that Khan's party lacks the numerical strength to jolt the entire system.
Now that the regime in Pakistan has been changed and PTI members resigned from the national assembly, the country may witness by-elections to fill the vacant seats. However, during the course of the no-confidence vote, Imran Khan had been advocating for conducting the national elections to end the current political crisis.
Meanwhile earlier today, Shehbaz, 70, was the only candidate left in the race after former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced that his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party will boycott the voting and staged a walkout.
"Sharif has secured 174 votes… and has been declared as prime minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan," according to the formal result announced by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq who presided over the session after Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri said his conscience did not allow him to conduct the session.
In the House of 342, the winning candidate should get support of at least 172 lawmakers.
In his maiden address to the house as the prime minister, Shehbaz said that 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," he said.
He said today is a "big day" for the entire nation as a "selected" prime minister has been sent home in a legal and constitutional manner.
Shehbaz, the younger brother of former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said that the US dollar's value declining by Rs 8 today signified the "happiness of the people".
He acknowledged the apex court's "unanimous" verdict, saying the day when the Supreme Court gave its judgment should be marked as a “historic day” in the history of Pakistan.
(With inputs from PTI)
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