Pakistan’s parliament elected opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif as the country’s 23rd prime minister on Monday. The ousted premier Imran Khan and most of his party’s lawmakers resigned their seats in the assembly before voting started. Shehbaz is the younger brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

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The Opposition’s joint candidate Shehbaz Sharif was today elected as the country’s 23rd Prime Minister. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief got 174 votes.

Before the voting process, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmakers walked out of the National Assembly shouting slogans against the Opposition parties’ leadership and the US after their candidate Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced his decision to boycott the session.

According to local media reports, the poll took place under the chairmanship of MNA Ayaz Sadiq, two days after the lower house of Parliament voted in favour of removing Imran Khan from office, following a nearly 14-hour standoff between the Opposition and Khan’s ruling party that started on Saturday morning.

Mr Shehbaz had earlier contested for the Prime Ministership in 2018 as well in which Imran had received 176 votes and he could bag only 96 votes at the time.