Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in as Pakistan’s prime minister after a series of dramas over the formation of a coalition government. He took oath as the 24th Prime Minister of Pakistan at the President House in Islamabad on Monday.
According to the report of the country’s media Dawn, President Arif Alvi administered the Prime Minister’s oath to PML-N chief Shehbaz Sharif at President House Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, former President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman and ally Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Chief Ministers of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan were also present at the Prime Minister’s swearing-in ceremony.
Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir also attended the swearing-in ceremony of Shehbaz Sharif. Earlier, on Sunday, Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the Prime Minister after getting the votes of 201 lawmakers in the National Assembly (NA), the lower house of the country’s parliament.
Apart from this, ambassadors and diplomats of various countries posted in Pakistan were also present at the swearing-in ceremony of Shehbaz at Aiwan-e-Sadr. The newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan was given a guard of honor after taking oath.
Shehbaz Sharif took over as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan in April 2022 after the government led by the then Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted. After about 16 months of serving as the prime minister, he returned to the post of prime minister of the country for the second term.
Voting for the prime minister election was held in the session of the National Assembly of Pakistan on Sunday. Shehbaz Sharif contested against Omar Ayub Khan, the prime ministerial candidate of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), backed by Imran Khan’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Shehbaz Sharif got 201 votes and was elected as the Prime Minister. And his opposition candidate Omar Ayub Khan got 92 votes.
There was a lot of uproar and tension in the country’s parliament around the election of the prime minister. The PTI-backed lawmakers have alleged that the PML-N and PPP are forming a coalition government after defeating them through vote rigging in the February 8 elections.
PML-N chief Shehbaz Sharif’s victory was expected as the country’s seven political parties backed him. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Pakistan Muslim League-Zia (PML-Z) are against the newly elected Prime Minister of the country. ), supported by the Istehqam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) and the National Party (NP).
