Abb Takk News
Abbtakk Pakistan News Ticker Pakistan TRENDING

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan

Islamabad (August 1, 2017): The ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) candidate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has elected as an Interim Prime Minister by securing 221 votes out of 339.

According to the details, PML-N candidate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has been elected as the interim prime minister for 45 days with a clear majority of 221 votes, thanks to the support from his own party, MQM and other coalition partners.

Click Play Button To Watch This Video

PPP’s candidate Naveed Qamar secured 47, PTI and PML-Q’s joint candidate Sheikh Rasheed 33 and Sahibzada Tariqullah got 4 votes.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has enjoyed the support JUI-F and MQM-Pakistan.

“I want to thank the supporters and our partners in the coalition who voted for us,” said the new prime minister of Pakistan.

“Four days ago, the Supreme Court verdict was completely embraced by us but not the public. The prime minister left the PM House after the verdict. There were no rifts in the party following the verdict,” said Abbasi.

He added that democracy was not derailed and is now “back on track”.

Abbasi praised the leadership and principles of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and criticised the opposition for accusing Nawaz of corruption.

Following the Supreme Court’s disqualification of Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N had agreed upon Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the former petroleum minister, as its candidate for interim prime minister.

Abbasi will hold the post of interim prime minister until Shahbaz Sharif is elected to the Parliament, and then to the prime minister’s office.

Shahbaz will likely seek election to the National Assembly from Nawaz Sharif’s constituency, which is a PML-N stronghold. As part of the agreed-on course of action, he will also have to forego his seat in the Punjab Assembly and his successor will need to be chosen.

The oath-taking ceremony is expected to take place around 7pm. Nawaz Sharif is also expected to be present at the ceremony.

Moreover, foreign ambassadors, senior judges, chief ministers, politicians, members of the armed forces and prominent members from various fields will observe the oath-taking.

A day after Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification, the parliamentary party meeting of the PML-N decided to make Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif — the brother of the ousted premier — to be the party’s candidate for the slot.

However, at the meeting, Nawaz announced that former petroleum minister, Abbasi, will be the premier until Shehbaz is elected to a National Assembly seat and subsequently made the prime minister.

“If you support anyone after me, I ask you to support Shehbaz Sharif,” said Nawaz during the meeting, held at the Punjab House a day after Nawaz’s ouster by the apex court.

“It will take Shehbaz Sharif 50-55 days to take over as prime minister. He will have to contest [national] elections. For the interim period, I am recommending Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for the position of prime minister.”

Then prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from holding public office by the Supreme Court on Friday.

Sharif was disqualified under Article 62 (1) (f) of the Constitution over his failure to disclose un-withdrawn receivables constituting assets from a UAE-based company. It implied he was not ‘honest’ and ‘truthful’, as per the country’s Constitution.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Profile

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who was elected the new Prime Minister of Pakistan, is the former federal minister for petroleum and natural resources, and a businessman who launched the country´s most successful private airline.

Considered highly intelligent and a long-time loyalist of Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister who was ousted by the Supreme Court on Friday, the 58-year-old Abbasi will act as a placeholder for the Sharif dynasty.

He is due to be rubber stamped by in a parliamentary vote as prime minister until Sharif´s younger brother Shahbaz, a provincial minister, can be elected to the national assembly and take over the leadership.

Abbasi was appointed oil minister when Nawaz Sharif won his third election in 2013.

Educated in the US at George Washington University, he was born in Karachi but is a member of the National Assembly from Murree — a hill station that is a favourite holiday destination for Sharif.

Abbasi worked in the US and Saudi Arabia as an electrical engineer before joining politics after his father, a minister in General Zia ul-Haq´s government, was killed when an ammunition dump belonging to Pakistan´s powerful Inter-Service Intelligence Agency (ISI) exploded in Rawalpindi in 1988.

Abbasi has been elected six times as a member of the National Assembly since then, and has previously served as minister for commerce and defence production.

He was the chairman of national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) from 1997 to 1999, until General Pervez Musharraf overthrew Sharif´s second government.

Abbasi was arrested after the coup and imprisoned for two years before being released.
In 2003, he setup a private airline Air Blue, the country´s most successful private airline and challenger to PIA.

Related News:

NA Session Starts to Elect New PM

Voting for New PM Underway in National Assembly