The National Assembly on Tuesday elected PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the eighteenth prime minister of Pakistan following the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court last week.
Abbasi, the favoured candidate to win, swept the election with a majority vote. He received 221 of 339 votes.
“I want to thank the supporters and our partners in the coalition who voted for us,” said the new prime minister of Pakistan.
“Four days ago, the Supreme Court verdict was completely embraced by us but not the public. The prime minister left the PM House after the verdict. There were no rifts in the party following the verdict,” said Abbasi.
He added that democracy was not derailed and is now “back on track”.
Abbasi has been elected as an interim prime minister and will hold the post till the election of incumbent Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif to the National Assembly.
PPP’s Naveed Qamar secured 47 votes while PTI’s candidate Sheikh Rasheed managed to secured 33 votes.
The speaker ordered certain members to be removed due to the ruckus created in the house.
