AMN
Pakistan’s President Mamnoon Hussain has called a session of the National Assembly on Tuesday for the election of an interim Prime Minister. The President’s decision follows a landmark Supreme Court ruling on the Panama Papers case in which Nawaz Sharif was disqualified as the Prime Minister after being deemed unfit to hold office as he had been dishonest to the Parliament.
The PML-N has agreed upon Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the former petroleum minister, as its candidate for interim Prime Minister. The election of the PML-N’s fielded candidate to the post is considered to be a foregone conclusion, as the party currently holds a hefty majority in parliament and can independently vote him into office.
Meanwhile, Nawaz’s brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, has been nominated as the party’s candidate for Prime Minister. Abbasi is expected to take over as interim Prime Minister until Shahbaz is elected to parliament, and then to the prime minister’s office.