Shehbaz Sharif Steps Up to Take Imran Khan's Crown as Next Pakistan PM | All About Man of the Moment

The time is up for Imran Khan. The Pakistan Prime Minister lost the majority in the National Assembly on Saturday after the country’s Supreme Court allowed a no-trust vote he tried to duck earlier. Waiting in the wings to take the crown is Leader of the Opposition Shehbaz Sharif, brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Sharif was elected unopposed on Monday as the new PM in the National Assembly amid resignations and walkouts by PTI members. He has been the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018. The president of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) previously served as the chief minister of Punjab thrice, making him the longest-serving CM of the province.

Sharif was elected to the Punjab provincial assembly in 1988, and to the National Assembly in 1990. He was again elected to the Punjab assembly in 1993 and named Leader of the Opposition. He was elected chief minister for the first time in 1997.

He and his family spent years in self-exile in Saudi Arabia after a military coup deposed the government in 1999, and returned to Pakistan in 2007. After the PML-N’s victory in the province in the 2008 elections, he was appointed Punjab CM for a second term.

In 2013, he was elected chief minister of Punjab for the third time and served his term until his party’s defeat in the 2018 general elections. He was nominated as the PML-N president after his brother Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from holding office. He was nominated as the Leader of the Opposition after the 2018 elections.

On March 28, Shehbaz Sharif tabled the no-confidence resolution against Khan.

Money laundering case

In December 2019, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seized 23 properties of Shehbaz and his son Hamza Sharif, accusing them of money laundering. In September 2020, the NAB arrested Shehbaz at the Lahore High Court and indicted him on charges of money laundering. He was incarcerated pending trial. In April last year, the Lahore HC released him on bail in the money laundering case.

Opposition unites against Imran Khan

On March 8, Pakistan’s main opposition parties filed a no-confidence motion against the Pakistan PM. A combined opposition that stretches the political spectrum from left to radically religious said it had the 172 votes needed in Pakistan’s 342-seat parliament to oust Imran Khan.

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