Elections

Ex-oil minister Abbasi elected interim Pakistani PM

Salaam Times

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former Pakistani minister of petroleum and natural resources, arrives at Parliament House to vote during the election for interim prime minister in Islamabad August 1. Abbasi won with 221 votes inthe 342-member National Assembly. [Aamir Qureshi/AFP]

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former Pakistani minister of petroleum and natural resources, arrives at Parliament House to vote during the election for interim prime minister in Islamabad August 1. Abbasi won with 221 votes inthe 342-member National Assembly. [Aamir Qureshi/AFP]

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's parliament elected ex-oil minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as interim prime minister Tuesday (August 1), days after three-time premier Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was ousted by the Supreme Court.

Abbasi, nominated by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, won 221 votes in the 342-member National Assembly, Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq announced.

Pakistan's constitution requires a candidate for prime minister to win a majority from the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

Once he is sworn in later on Tuesday, Abbasi is expected to serve the nation's top office as a placeholder for Nawaz Sharif's younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, who was named as his successor over the weekend.

Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Punjab Province, must first enter parliament by contesting the seat left vacant by his elder sibling.

Abbasi, a businessman and electrical engineer, had been minister of petroleum and natural resources since 2013 and was elected to the National Assembly six times from Rawalpindi District.

"I am thankful to all those who took part in this democratic process," Abbasi said after taking the premier's seat in parliament. "Those who were in favour, those who opposed me. This is the procedure in democracy."

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