Shahid Abbasi Elected As Pak Interim PM:- Four days after the Supreme Court disqualified Nawaz Sharif from holding the post over the Panama papers scandal,  Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was elected as the interim Prime Minister on Tuesday.

Abbasi got elected after getting 221 votes in the House of 342. Naveed Qamar of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) secured 47 votes, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf secured 33 while Jamaat-e-Islami’s Sahibzada Tariqullah managed just four votes.

National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq asked Abbasi to take the seat of the prime minister and address the House. With four corners being designated for four candidates, the voting was done, where supporters of each candidate recorded their vote.

Many of the PML-N National Assembly members, after the voting and counting process, entered the House with posters of Sharif. However, the National Assembly Speaker objected to this and asked them to put away the placards and posters.

At a special ceremony at the President’s House, Abbasi will be sworn-in in later, where President Mamnoon Hussain will administer the oath to him.

On Friday, the Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Sharif (67) for dishonesty. It ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal, forcing him to resign. President Hussain summoned the National Assembly to elect the new leader. The National Assembly is the lower house of Parliament.

Until Sharif’s brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is elected as a National Assembly member, Sharif’s PML-N nominated Abbasi as interim Prime Minister

Sheikh Rashid has received votes from lawmakers to cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, while Abbasi was elected by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the PML-N and its allies. However, for the event, Imran Khan did not turn up.

SUPRAJA