Pakistan’s National Assembly on Sunday elected Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz’s Shehbaz Sharif as the 24th elected prime minister of the country in a session hit by the ruckus created by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
The session, which is being chaired by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, began with the oath-taking of PML-N’s Jam Kamal.
However, the House soon began echoing slogans and chants raised by the SIC members in favour of incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and alliance backing Shehbaz Sharif.
After this, Speaker Sadiq asked the Assembly staff to ring the bell for five minutes so any members that are not present in the house could come to the floor for the prime minister’s election.
Once the bells were rung, Speaker Sadiq ordered the NA staff to lock the doors and announced the method for electing the prime minister.
Then the speaker informed the lawmakers about the candidates who were contesting for the prime minister’s elections.
“Valid nominated candidates are Shehbaz Sharif and Omar Ayub. Honourable members who wish to vote in favour of Shehbaz may proceed to the lobby on the right side designated as ‘Lobby A’,” the speaker said.
The speaker then directed that those who wish to vote for Ayub can proceed to the left-hand side towards “Lobby B” to get their votes recorded.
As the voting process commenced, members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) walked out of the House as they announced a boycott of the elections.
While Balochistan National Party’s Sardar Akhtar Mengal did not cast his vote and stayed in his seat.
Following the conclusion of the polling process, the NA secretary provided the speaker with the record of the votes cast in the elections.
Once the counting was completed the speaker directed the NA staff to ring the bell to summon the lawmakers back in the house for the announcement of the results.
Shehbaz, is the joint candidate of seven allied parties, is a clear favourite in the one-on-one contest against Omar, who is the candidate of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) — the party which was joined by winning Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) affiliated candidates after the February 8 elections.
