Pakistan Muslim League (N) President Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the 23rd prime minister of Pakistan after 174 lawmakers voted in his favour in the parliament on Monday.
The lawmakers from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) of recently-ousted prime minister Imran Khan boycotted the election, reports Dawn.
Earlier, PTI lawmakers had walked out of the halls, with Shah Mahmood Qureshi — who was the party's candidate for the top slot — announcing that they would be resigning en masse from the NA.
PML-N's Ayaz Sadiq presided over the session after Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri his conscience did not allow him to conduct the session.
The development comes two days after an unceremonious end to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan's tenure as the country's chief executive through a no-confidence vote.
As soon as Sadiq announced the result and said Shehbaz was the new prime minister of Pakistan, lawmakers began shouting slogans in favour of Shehbaz and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.
The speaker asked Shehbaz to move to the seat of the prime minister in the house and he shifted to the treasury benches amid cheers, with other members of the former joint opposition following suit.
In his maiden address to the house as the prime minister, Shehbaz he thanked Allah for "saving Pakistan".
He said it was the first time in Pakistan's history that a no-confidence motion against a prime minister had been successful. "And good has prevailed over evil."
Shehbaz today was a "big day" for the entire nation when a "selected" prime minister was sent packing in a legal and constitutional manner.
He added that the US dollar's value declining by Rs8 signified the "happiness of the people".
The newly elected prime minister also thanked the Supreme Court (SC) for burying the doctrine of necessity forever. "In the future, no one will be able to rely on it," he said.
