Shehbaz Sharif Elected as Pakistan’s New PM

By Staff, Agencies

Pakistan’s parliament has elected Shehbaz Sharif as the country’s new prime minister following the weekend removal of Imran Khan in a vote of no confidence.

Ahead of the vote on Monday, MPs from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [PTI] party resigned en masse, boycotting the election of Sharif, the younger brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has been elected as prime minister,” said Acting Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

In his first address as prime minister in the National Assembly, Sharif announced an increase in salaries, pensions and the minimum wage for laborers.

The parliamentary vote was held under tight security, with nearly all roads leading to the National Assembly sealed.

Sharif, who was sworn in later on Monday, comes from a family of industrialists which has become a political dynasty.

His predecessor, Imran Khan, was ousted by the country’s parliament in a successful no-confidence vote on Saturday. He blasted the vote as a foreign-backed regime change operation.

“Never have such crowds come out so spontaneously and in such numbers in our history, rejecting the imported gov’t led by crooks,” Khan said on Twitter, sharing footage of the protests.