Imran Khan elected Prime Minister
ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan was elected as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan defeating Shahbaz Sharif in an open ballot in the National Assembly on Friday. Khan will take oath of office on Saturday.
Khan secured 176 votes while Sharif bagged 96 ballots.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamaat-e-islami abstained. Their MPS remained present on the floor but did not take part in the voting. They withdrew their support to Sharif two days back.
The PPP insisted that the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PMNL-N) should nominate anyone but Sharif.
However, the PML-N insisted that it would not change its candidate. A total of 330 MPS had taken. The National Assembly is comprised of 342 members.
Twelve seats are vacant for which by-elections will be held.
ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan has been elected as the 22nd prime minister of Pakistan defeating Shahbaz Sharif in an open ballot in the National Assembly on Friday.
Khan secured 176 votes while Sharif bagged 96 ballots. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamaat-e-islami abstained. Their MPS remained present on the loor but did not take part in the voting. They withdrew their support to Sharif two days back. The PPP insisted that the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PMNL-N) should nominated someone else but Sharif. However, the PML-N insisted that it would not change its candidate.
A total of 330 MPS had taken. The National Assembly comprised 342 members. As many as twelve seats are vacant for which by-elections will be held.
The debating hall resounded with vociferous protest of the PML-N whose lawmakers kept raising “respect the vote” and “down with fake mandate” slogans. The PML-N MPS were wearing black arm bands to demonstrate their anger over the alleged rigging in the July 25 elections. They also held the posters inscribed with the photographs of incarcerated ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
On the other hand, Pakistan Tehreeke-insaf (PTI legislators raised slogans eulogizing Khan. At times, the two sides were locked in a shouting match.
A large number of PTI workers who were present in the parliamentary lobbies also chanted slogans in favour of Khan and against Sharif.
Speaker Asad Qaisar, who chaired the sitting, remained helpless for a long time in maintaining order in the House. At the very outset, PML-N MP Murtaza Javed Abbasi stood up and protested the presence of a large number of PTI workers, who were standing in the lobbies.
As the ruckus was continuing, the PPP MPS left the hall and proceeded to their homes. While Bialwal was in attendance, Asif Ali Zardari did not turn up.
Before the proceedings began, dozens of PTI workers stormed the press enclosure in the parliament building. They tried to occupy the gallery, beat some journalists and broke its doors.
Khan’s success in the election ended decades of political dominance by two dynastic powerhouses, the PML-N of three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), founded and led by the Bhutto family.
But Khan will face a battle to push through his ambitious reforms and legislative agenda due to the thin majority in the National Assembly. The Senate, parliament’s upper chamber, is controlled by the opposition. “Legislative business will be dificult for him,” said Raza Ahmad Rumi, editor of the Daily Times newspaper.
Opposition parties allege election rigging and say Khan’s path to power was made easier by the tacit support of the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan for nearly half its history.
The army and Khan’s PTI deny any collusion.
“The whole nation has rejected this election,” said Shehbaz Sharif, demanding an investigation of electoral irregularities.
Murtaza Abbasi, a PML-N lawmaker, said in parliament Khan was “brought here by aliens”, a euphemism for the military.
Khan shot back that he had “struggled 22 years” to become premier and would not be “blackmailed”.
“No military dictator raised me. I got here on my own,” Khan said.
How Khan addresses historic civilmilitary tensions that have dogged successive governments could deine his term.
No Pakistani premier has ever completed a ive-year term in ofice, including Sharif, whose most recent stint in power was ended by the Supreme Court last year.
Sharif, who was jailed over corruption accusations several weeks before the election, saw his second stint in power ended by a military coup in 1999.