Shehbaz Sharif to sit again as Pakistan PM

ISLAMABAD: Shehbaz Sharif, set to be named Pakistan’s prime minister for a second time on Sunday, has stepped to the fore as a compromise candidate suited to turbulent times.

The 72-year-old is due to be voted in by lawmakers as the head of a shaky coalition, shutting out loyalists of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, after the February 8 polls returned no clear winner.

Shehbaz is the younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, considered the stronger personality and more charismatic of the pair.

He first served as prime minister in 2022, heading a similar broad alliance of parties that combined to boot Khan from power.

A seasoned administrator with a reputation stemming from his nutsand-bolts work in provincial politics, Shehbaz is known for having a penchant for poetry.

The Sharif family’s military-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party won the most seats in the election, but fell short of an expected majority in a poll that was marred by allegations of pre-poll rigging and vote tampering.

Khan’s lawmakers won the most seats, despite a sweeping crackdown against his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party that forced its candidates to run as independents and blocked them from holding rallies.

But Khan’s faction fell short of the majority needed to rule and are set to sit in full-throated opposition, leaving Sharif to steer a shaky coalition including PML-N’s historic rivals Pakistan People’s Party.

While keeping the coalition intact and fending off Khan’s defiance, the new prime minister must also grapple with a grinding economic downturn and a worsening security situation.

Analysts say Shehbaz has been swapped in to steer the coalition because of his reputation as a deal-maker, but that Nawaz — dubbed the “PML-N Supremo” by domestic media — will still call the shots.