Shehbaz Sharif set to become next Pakistan Prime Minister

A new premier will be chosen in Pakistan Monday, with centrist Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif already anointed to lead the nuclear-armed nation of 220 million people after Imran Khan was dismissed Sunday as Pakistan’s Prime Minister after losing a no-confidence vote.   

Sharifs’ first task is reported to be the forming of a cabinet that will also draw heavily from the centre-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), with space for the smaller conservative Jamiatul Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F). Sharif is the brother of disgraced three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, while PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is the son of former president Asif Ali Zardari and assassinated ex-premier Benazir Bhutto.   

The PPP and PML-N have dominated Pakistani politics for decades - usually as bitter rivals - and their relations are sure to fray in the lead-up to the next election held before October 2023.  

No prime minister has ever served a full term in Pakistan, but Khan was the first to lose office via a vote of no-confidence. He struggled to maintain support with soaring inflation, a feeble rupee and crippling debt. 

 
Khan had vowed to fight “until the last ball trying everything to stay in power after losing his majority in parliament -including dissolving the assembly and calling a fresh election. But the Supreme Court deemed all his actions illegal and ordered them to reconvene and vote. The no-confidence motion passed with 174 votes in the 342-seat assembly. 
ISLAMABAD April 10 AFP