Pakistan: PML-N nominates Shehbaz Sharif as prime ministerial candidate

PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif has been nominated for the slot of prime minister of Pakistan by his party on Tuesday night, 13 February.

Taking to X, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, 74, has nominated his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, 72, a candidate for the slot of prime minister and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, 50, for chief minister of Punjab province.

"Nawaz Sharif has thanked the political parties which provided support to the PMLN (in forming the upcoming government) and expressed hope that through such decisions Pakistan will come out of crises," she said.

The development comes as Pakistan's leading parties, minus jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party, on Tuesday, 13 February announce that they will try to form a coalition government led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, ending speculation about the future form of the political set-up.

Shehbaz along with Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) met at the residence of Shujaat Hussain of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) after a consultative meeting.

“Today we have united to tell the nation that we all accept the split mandate. I am thankful to Zardari and Bilawal that they decided for their party to vote for the PML-N,” he said and thanked the other gathered leaders as well.

To form a government, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly.

The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced that independent candidates, a majority of them supported by the PTI secured 101 seats, followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 75 seats, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) getting 54 seats, and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) bagging 17 seats.

Other parties got 17 seats while the result of one constituency was withheld.

Shehbaz said the new government would pull the cash-strapped country out of trouble.

“Now our war is against the country’s challenges. The first challenge is the economy. We have to stabilise it which is a tall task. Nations move forward when their leadership unites and decides to end conflicts and take the nation forward to eliminate problems,” he said.

“We have decided to form a coalition government and pull the country out of the economic crisis,” he said and added that the new government would also try to reconcile with everyone, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of jailed former prime minister Khan.

He promised to deliver the country out of these troubles and lead on to the road to prosperity.

With the key parties getting together to form the new government, the transition from the election to the new government is likely to take place as per law by the end of this month.