Shehbaz Sharif has emerged victorious and been elected as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan as polling commenced in the recently-elected National Assembly on Sunday. He secured 201 votes and clinched the position of 24th Prime Minister of Pakistan by defeating PTI-backed and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) nominated candidate Omar Ayub Khan, who garnered 92 votes in the election.
The Assembly session began at 12 pm, experiencing a nearly one-hour delay. The nomination papers of both leaders had been submitted by their respective party leaders and were accepted by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq after scrutiny.
Shahebaz Sharif, serving as the president of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, enjoys the support of various political parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, and Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party. His candidacy was put forward as part of a power-sharing agreement between the PMLN and PPP following the elections.
In the National Assembly, independents, some backed by the PTI, emerged as the largest group with 101 seats, followed by PMLN with 75 seats and PPP with 54 seats.
Many elected PTI candidates have chosen to align with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) to gain recognition as a party in the Assembly, hoping to secure reserved seats through this strategic move.
The election process for the prime minister differs from that of the speaker or deputy speaker, as it does not involve a secret ballot. Instead, the election is conducted through an open division of members in the house, as outlined in Chapter IV and the Second Schedule of Rules and Procedure for the Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007.
The speaker initiates the process by ringing bells for five minutes to announce the impending election, allowing absent members to return. Separate lobbies are designated for each candidate’s supporters, with tellers recording the names and division numbers of members. After the voting is declared complete, the lists from all tellers are collected for final counting.
Subsequently, the bells ring again, signaling members to return to the Assembly, and the results are announced.
