Pakistan: Election For New PM To Be Held On March 3, Shahbaz Sharif Likely To Return To Power (image@CMShehbaz)
Shehbaz Sherif is all set to become Pakistan’s new Prime Minister on March 3, 2024. The National Assembly Secretariat earlier announced the schedule for the election of the head of the government. As per the schedule, candidates can submit their nomination papers by March 2nd. The scrutiny of the papers will also be completed on the same day.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has nominated Shahbaz Sharif for the premier’s post. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), party of former PM Imran Khan, who is in jail, has chosen Omer Ayub Khan as the Prime Minister candidate.
The PML-N, which is led by former Prime Minister Nawaz sharif, has received the support of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which is led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, to lead a coalition government after the election of February 8, ended up in a hung parliament.
This will be the second time Shahbaz Sharif becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He earlier served as the Prime Minister, when the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s government was ousted in April 2022. He served as the Prime Minister for 16 months till August 2023, when fresh elections were announced.
Shahbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto asserted that they have enough support to form a coalition government. Under the coalition government, PPP’s Asif Ali Zardari will be the candidate for President of the nation, he earlier served as President of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013.
As per the constitution, out of the 265 contested seats, a party should earn 133 seats to form a government. When PTI won 93 seats, PML-N won 75 and PPP won 54. The Muttahida Quami Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has won 17 seats.
The PML-N and PPP decided to form an ally with four other smaller parties to keep Imran Khan’s PTI out of question.
