Pakistan’s Parliament Elects Shehbaz Sharif as PM After Ousting Imra Khan

Pakistan’s parliament elected Shehbaz Sharif as prime minister on Monday, a day after the ouster of Imra Khan in a vote to approve a no-confidence motion. Legislators from Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party resigned together from the National Assembly prior to the election of Sharif as prime minister.

The change in leadership comes after a week of political drama in Pakistan. The opposition coalition in the National Assembly overwhelmed the Imran Khan-led ruling government in the no-confidence resolution with 174 votes in the 342-member house. Imran Khan is the first prime minister in the history of Pakistan to be successfully ousted by the opposition with a no-confidence motion.

Sharif, 70, the younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, is seen as more friendly to the West. Sharif has led a united opposition to topple Khan. Thousands of Khan supporters in several cities in Pakistan held protests against his ousting that continued until the early hours of Monday morning.

The opposition coalition had filed a no-confidence motion against Khan in the National Assembly on March 8. National Assembly Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri on April 3 dismissed the opposition parties’ motion of no-confidence against the prime minister and passed a ruling that the motion of no trust was the result of a foreign conspiracy and thus violated the constitutional requirement of loyalty to Pakistan. Also on March 3, President Arif Alvi dissolved parliament at Khan’s request. The opposition filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the decision. After five consecutive days of hearings, the country‘s top court upheld the no-confidence motion against Khan and ordered that the no-confidence motion be decided by convening a meeting of the Assembly.