Islamabad (Staff Report): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has been elected as 22nd prime minister of Pakistan.
Khan secured 176 votes, while Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif got 96 votes.
Pakistan Peoples Party abstained from voting process.
Khan will take oath of his office on Saturday 9:30am at President House Islamabad.
Imran Khan’s PTI emerged as the leading party in the July 25 general election, and claimed to be in a comfortable position to elect its chairman as the next prime minister. A simple majority of votes from the total strength of the house is required for the election of prime minister.
After allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities, the PTI remains the majority party in the National Assembly, boasting a total of 151 seats.
It claims to bag the support of at least 175 lawmakers, more than 50% of the total 330 MNAs sworn in, and is likely to gain majority in the election if its lawmakers and all its allied parties vote for Khan.
The PTI enjoys support from three members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q), seven of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), five of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), four of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), three lawmakers of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), and one member each from the Awami Muslim League (AML) and Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP).
On Wednesday, Asad Qaiser of PTI was elected as the speaker of the National Assembly. He defeated former opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah of the PPP.
Asad Qaiser received 176 votes to be elected to the speakership, whereas Shah got 146 votes. A total of 330 votes were cast, out of which 322 were accepted and eight were rejected. Outgoing speaker Ayaz Sadiq administered the oath to the newly elected Speaker.
