Shehbaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan on Monday in a vote in the National Assembly triggered by the fall this weekend of his predecessor Imran Khan, overthrown by a vote of no confidence.
Mr. Sharif “was elected Prime Minister”, by collecting 174 votes out of the 342 seats in the Assembly, announced Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the acting president of the chamber.
The session was boycotted by the vast majority of MPs from Mr. Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Justice Movement), who also announced their resignation from the Assembly, at the like the former Prime Minister.
“Allah saved Pakistan today, thanks to the prayers of millions of Pakistanis,” said the new head of government. “It is the victory of righteousness and evil has been defeated.”
Head of the Muslim League of Pakistan (PML-N), Mr. Sharif took over at the age of 70 the head of this Islamic republic of 220 million inhabitants equipped with nuclear weapons.
He is the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, who served three times as prime minister before being deposed in 2017 for alleged corruption and imprisoned, then released two years later on medical grounds, and who has since lived in exile in the United Kingdom.
He succeeds Imran Khan, 69, a former star cricketer elected in 2018, who on Sunday became the first Pakistani head of government in history to fall on a motion of no confidence.
He received the support of the coalition which had voted no confidence in Mr. Khan, made up in particular of the Pakistani People’s Party (PPP) of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and the small conservative religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) of Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
Its first mission will be to form a government from this motley crew, the PML-N and the PPP having been rivals for most of their history.
Former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was the PTI’s candidate in this election. He did not collect any votes, after having also resigned, denouncing an “illegitimate process”.