Sharif’s election closes a weekly constitutional controversy that culminated on Sunday when Khan lost the impeachment vote, although the country is likely to remain prone to political and economic turmoil. Sehbaz, 70, who has a reputation in the domestic market as an effective manager rather than a politician, is the younger brother of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Analysts say Shehbaz, unlike Nawaz, has friendly relations with the Pakistani military, which traditionally controls the foreign and defense policies of the 220 million-strong country. Following the vote, Sharif vowed to tackle an economic downturn that pushed the rupee to an all-time low and for the central bank to implement the biggest rate hike in decades last week. Pakistani Prime Minister-elect Sehbaz Sharif speaks after the victory of the parliamentary vote for the election of a new prime minister in the national assembly in Islamabad on Monday. (National Assembly of Pakistan / Brochure / Reuters)
“If we are to save the sinking ship, what we all need is hard work and unity, unity and unity,” he said in his maiden address to parliament. “We are starting a new era of growth today.”

Khan’s party is leaving

Minutes before the vote, lawmakers from Hahn’s party resigned en masse from the lower house of parliament in protest of the expected formation of a government by his political opponents. “We are announcing that we are all resigning,” said Shah Mahmoud Quresi, a former foreign minister and vice-president of Khan’s party. Mass resignations will require new elections in more than 100 seats. Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in Pakistan had submitted documents indicating Qureshi as a candidate for prime minister. The ousted Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Islamabad in 2021. (Saiyna Bashir / Reuters)
The younger Sharif emerged as the leader of a united opposition to overthrow Khan, a former cricket star who claimed the United States was behind his downfall, something Washington has denied. Sharif said in an interview last week that good relations with the United States were crucial for Pakistan, for better or for worse, in stark contrast to Hahn’s close ties to Washington. In his maiden speech he also spoke of improving relations with neighbors India and China. “We want good relations with India, but a lasting peace cannot be possible without a Kashmir solution,” he said, referring to the disputed Himalayan region for which countries have fought many wars. He said his government would accelerate the construction of the $ 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) – part of the Beijing Belt and Road Initiative. A supporter of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) holds a party flag with pictures of Shehbaz Sharif and his older brother and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif outside the parliament building in Islamabad on Monday. (Aamir Qureshi / AFP / Getty Images)

Political unrest

No elected prime minister has completed a full term in Pakistan since gaining independence from Britain’s colonial power in 1947, although Khan is the first to be ousted by a vote of no confidence. Nawaz Sharif was barred from holding public office by the Supreme Court in 2017 and then went abroad for medical treatment after serving just a few months of a 10-year prison sentence for corruption charges. The military has ruled the country for almost half of its nearly 75-year history. He favored Khan and his conservative agenda when he won the 2018 election. But that support waned following the controversy over the appointment of a military intelligence chief and the financial woes that led to higher interest rates over the past decade. Supporters of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party attend a rally in Karachi, Pakistan on Sunday. (Fareed Khan / The Associated Press)
Khan remained provocative after his defeat in parliament. Thousands of supporters in several cities staged demonstrations against his ouster, which lasted until the early hours of Monday morning. “There can be no greater insult in this country,” Khan told reporters Monday ahead of the election of Sehbaz Sharif.