UPDATE - Shehbaz Sharif sworn in as Pakistan’s new premier for 2nd term

UPDATES WITH ELECTION COMMISSION’S DECISION ON RESERVED SEATS; EDITS THROUGH

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan's newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in on Monday, three weeks after the Feb. 8 elections.

President Arif Alvi administered the oath to Shehbaz at a ceremony at the President’s Office.

Shehbaz, the younger brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and president of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N, was elected to the coveted post for a second term on Sunday, securing 201 votes in a 336-member lower house or the National Assembly.

He defeated his rival Omar Ayub Khan -- who secured 92 votes -- of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

A candidate requires 169 votes in a 336-member house to clinch the coveted post by a simple majority.

Pakistan went to elections on Feb. 8, which were marred by violence and rigging allegations.

Sharif previously served as the premier for 16 months, from April 2022 to August 2023.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, army chief Gen. Asim Munir, former Premier Nawaz Sharif, former President Asif Ali Zardari, and others attended the oath-taking ceremony.

Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday congratulated Sharif on his reelection as Pakistan's prime minister.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday also congratulated him on his election.

Xi stressed that China and Pakistan should continue their traditional friendship, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in all fields, jointly build an upgraded version of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, continue to deepen the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, and build a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, to bring more benefits for the people of the two countries.

- No reserved seats for opposition party

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the country’s top electoral body, ruled on Monday that the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), a religiopolitical group, and a new home of lawmakers belonging to PTI are not eligible to secure reserved seats for women and religious minorities.

The PTI did not take part in the general elections as a party and fielded its candidates as independents after it was stripped of its election symbol “cricket bat” by the ECP.

The ECP ruled that as the SIC had not submitted a priority list for the reserved seats before the polling, which was a legal requirement, it cannot claim the reserved seats.

The National Assembly has 60 reserved for women and 10 for religious minorities.

These are proportionately distributed among parties based on their electoral performance. Any party that wants its leader to be the prime minister will need 169 votes in the House.