Pakistan: Shehbaz Sharif Elected as the PM For The 2nd Time

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Leader Shehbaz Sharif, was elected as the nation’s 24th prime minister by the Pakistan National Assembly on Sunday. The proceedings began with members of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) raising a commotion by yelling slogans, according to Pakistan-based Geo News.

Speaker of the Pakistan National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that Shehbaz Sharif received 201 votes to become Pakistan’s PM. Omar Ayub Khan, the leader of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), obtained 92 votes. He made the announcement amid protests by the SIC lawmakers, the report said.

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq is presiding over the session. The PML-N leader Jam Kamal took an oath to begin the session. But the House quickly started echoing slogans and chants raised by SIC members in favour of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and the eight-party alliance backing Shehbaz Sharif.

Subsequently, Sadiq instructed the Assembly staff to ring the bell for five minutes, allowing any member who was not physically present in the house to join the floor for the PM’s election. Following the ringing of the bells, Sadiq issued an order to the National Assembly employees to shut the doors and declared the procedure for choosing the PM, as reported by Geo News.

The speaker of the Pakistan National Assembly then briefed the parliamentarians on the contenders running for prime minister. He said, “Valid nominated candidates are Shehbaz Sharif and Omar Ayub. Honourable members who wish to vote in favour of Shehbaz may proceed to the lobby on the right side designated as ‘Lobby A’.”

Ayaz Sadiq then instructed those who wished to cast votes for Omar Ayub Khan to do so by moving to the left and voting for “Lobby B” to have their votes counted. According to a report by Geo News, members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) declared a boycott of the polls as soon as the voting process began and left the building.

Sardar Akhtar Mengal of the Balochistan National Party did not cast his vote, yet he did not leave his Assembly seat. Following the polling process, the speaker received information on the voting procedure from the secretary of the Pakistan National Assembly. Following the counting process, Ayaz Sadiq gave the Pakistan National Assembly personnel the order to ring the bell and call the members back into the house so that the results could be announced.