- Pakistan held elections on February 8, 2024, to elect the Members of the 16th National Assembly.
- The elections were called following two years of political unrest after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office via a no-confidence motion.
President William Ruto has congratulated Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif following his election as Pakistani Prime Minister.
Pakistan held elections on February 8, 2024, to elect the Members of the 16th National Assembly.
The National Assembly on Sunday met to elect the premier.
"Congratulations Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on your well-deserved election as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Your victory is a testament to your bold and progressive leadership," Ruto said in a statement Monday evening.
"Kenya looks forward to working with you in escalating our ties for the prosperity of our citizens. Congratulations!" he added.
The elections were called following two years of political unrest after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office via a no-confidence motion.
Sharif won the parliamentary vote of the lower House by garnering 201 votes in the 336-member National Assembly.
The winner needed only 169 votes.
His rival Omar Ayub Khan managed a paltry 92 votes.
“Shehbaz Sharif is declared to have been elected the prime minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said.
Sharif, 72, had served as prime minister until August 2023, when the National Assembly was dissolved to make way for a caretaker government.
His predecessor Imran Khan was arrested and convicted of corruption and barred from politics for five years.
The May 2023 arrest led to nationwide protests by his supporters.
But on August 29, 2023, the Islamabad High Court suspended Khan's sentence.
However, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was barred from contesting the February 8 elections for allegedly violating election laws.
Sharif, the younger brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was elected on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party ticket which he is the president.
PTI disputed the election outcome saying the candidates it fielded as independents after losing the party symbol were robbed of victory.
Sunday's National Assembly session experienced delays after members of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), a group of legislators backed by PTI, raised slogans alleging that Sharif came to power through ‘blatant rigging in election’.
Sharif came to power with a pledge to "change the fate of Pakistan".
“We will work closely with all four provinces and I promise I will keep them along,” he said.
Pakistan is home to 241.5 million people.