Shahbaz Sharif became the Prime Minister of Pakistan

Three weeks after the election, Pakistan’s parliament elected Shehbaz Sharif as the majority leader, enabling him to form a new government. In this way, Shehbaz Sharif from the Muslim League Nawaz Party will start his work as the 24th Prime Minister of Pakistan.

According to the Reuters report, 72-year-old Sharif is the younger brother of three-term prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who led the election campaign of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

In Pakistan’s February 8 election, candidates supported by Khan won the most seats, but the political rivals of Imran Khan, the imprisoned former prime minister of Pakistan, chose Shahbaz Sharif as their joint candidate as part of a power-sharing agreement. They introduced a prime minister.

This agreement was reached after several days of negotiations between the leaders of the Muslim League Party, the Pakistan Peoples Party and other parties that were unable to win enough seats to form a government independently in the February 8th parliamentary elections.

According to the Associated Press news agency, according to the final results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan, the independent candidates affiliated to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI) led by Imran Khan, won 93 seats out of 265 seats. themselves, but their number of seats is not enough to form a government independently.

Pakistan Muslim League led by Nawaz Sharif (PML-N) took second place with 75 seats and Pakistan Peoples Party led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari took third place with 54 seats.

Shehbaz Sharif is the brother of Nawaz Sharif, who succeeded Imran Khan in this position in 2022 after the overthrow of Imran Khan with a vote of no confidence in the parliament. After this removal, Imran Khan was convicted of numerous crimes in court, but his supporters believe that these convictions were politically motivated to keep him out of power.

Leaders of Imran Khan’s political rival party announced in a night news conference that they were able to get enough votes to form a government by forming a coalition with each other.

They also agreed to nominate former Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari of the People’s Party as their joint presidential candidate when the new parliament and all four state legislatures of Pakistan replace President Arif Ali in the coming weeks. They announced that they will choose the president who is stepping down.

Before his tenure as prime minister, the younger Sharif was known more as an administrator than a politician, having served three terms as chief minister in the country’s largest province, Punjab.

But as prime minister, he quickly assumed the role of peacemaker between the coalition parties, which are often at odds over key policies. Shahbaz Sharif’s biggest achievement in his short tenure was getting financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund with Pakistan on the brink of debt default.

The agreement was signed after Sharif personally called Kristalina Georgieva, head of the International Monetary Fund, in June.

Source: ISNA