Shehbaz Sharif chosen as Pak PM candidate after Imran Khan’s exit

Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday was nominated by the opposition as the joint candidate for the prime minister’s election scheduled tomorrow at 2 pm local time, Pakistan news channel ARY News reported.

The PML-N leader’s nomination comes a day after Imran Khan was removed from the post of prime minister after losing the no-confidence vote in the 342-member Pakistan assembly.

After he was nominated by the opposition, Sharif tweeted,”Special thanks to media, civil society, lawyers, my Quaid Nawaz Sharif, Asif Zardari, Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, Bilawal Bhutto, Khalid Maqbool, Khalid Magsi, Mosin Dawar, Ali Wazir, Amir Haider Hoti & leaders & workers of all political parties for standing up for the Constitution!”.

Shehbaz Sharif is the younger brother of three-time Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif who was dismissed from office in 2017 and then jailed on corruption charges. He is currently in United Kingdom after being released on bail for medical treatment.

According to the Pak media report, Sharif’s party PML-N has collected more than one nomination papers from the national assembly secretariat. The member parties of the opposition are also expected to submit nomination papers for the 70-year-old leader. Sharif will be elected unopposed in case no other candidate submits nomination against him.

Sharif is a seasoned politician in his own right, however, having served for years as chief minister of Punjab province, the Sharif family’s power base, and also president of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N).

Imran Khan became the first Pakistani prime minister to be removed after losing no-confidence motion in the assembly. The opposition got 174 votes against the majority mark of 172 in the 342-member Pakistan assembly.