ISLAMABAD (AP) – Pakistan’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday elected veteran lawmaker Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the country’s new prime minister, less than a week after the Supreme Court disqualified thrice-elected Nawaz Sharif for concealing assets.
Abbasi, a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League party, got 221 votes in the 342-member National Assembly. His closest rival Syed Naveed Qamar from the opposition Pakistan People’s Party secured 47 votes, according to Ayaz Sadiq, the National Assembly Speaker. Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, a lawmaker from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, founded by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, got 33 votes.
Abbasi replaced the 67-year-old Sharif, who was disqualified by the top court Friday for concealing assets – specifically, that his son’s Dubai-based company listed a monthly salary for him. Sharif claimed he never received any of that money.
In his first televised speech, an emotionally-charged Abbasi dismissed the corruption allegations against Sharif as baseless and said he hoped the deposed premier would return to parliament soon.
He said the people of Pakistan did not accept Sharif’s disqualification, and vowed to follow in his footsteps of Sharif.