Pak National Assembly to elect new PM today; Shehbaz, Imran in contention

TIL Desk/World/Islamabad/ Pakistan’s newly-elected National Assembly (NA), the lower house of the country’s Parliament, will vote for the new Prime Minister of Pakistan on Friday. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif are in contention for the position. The two leaders filed their nomination papers for the post on Wednesday.

The PTI had emerged as the single largest party in the general elections on July 25 with 116 seats. The party has 158 members in the NA after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued notifications of the successful candidates on the reserved seats for women and the minority community on August 11.

Imran Khan-led party reached the current figure after nine independent candidates joined and secured 33 seats reserved for the minorities and women. For any candidate to become the next Prime Minister of Pakistan, a simple majority of votes from the total strength of the 330-member house is required.

Currently, the PTI has the support of 175 lawmakers, which also includes the backing of smaller and regional political parties of Pakistan. These parties are expected to vote for Khan, thereby paving the way for him to become the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan, the report said.