Shehbaz Sherif Set to Become Pakistan’s Next PM after Khan’s Ouster

Shehbaz, 70, the younger brother of three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, is widely expected to replace him following a vote on Monday.

Marriyum Aurangzeb, a spokeswoman for the party, confirmed on Sunday that the chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had handed in his nomination papers. Sharif says he is almost certain to be picked to lead the 220 million people after weeks of high political drama.

Pakistan’s former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) has also submitted nomination papers for the election of the country’s next premier

Khan’s government fell in the early hours of Sunday. The no-confidence vote came after a nearly 14-hour standoff between the opposition and Khan’s PTI that started on Saturday morning.

The vote means Khan will no longer hold office and the country’s lower house will now elect a new prime minister and government.

Following the no-confidence vote, Ayaz Sadiq, the acting speaker of the Pakistani parliament’s lower house announced that the legislature will meet on Monday to vote for a new prime minister.

Shehbaz Sharif, who was for years chief minister of Punjab province, told parliament on Sunday that Khan’s departure was a chance for a new beginning. “A new dawn has started … This alliance will rebuild Pakistan.”

Sharif’s first task will be to form a cabinet that will draw also heavily from the assassinated ex-premier Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), as well as find space for the political factions.

His first tasks will be to repair relations with the powerful military and tend to a stuttering economy.

Khan has not commented publicly on his ouster, but even before the vote, he called for protests.

On Friday, Khan said he accepted the Supreme Court ruling that ordered that the country’s parliament can go ahead with a no-confidence vote against him.

Khan, who insists he has been the victim of a “regime change” conspiracy involving Washington, has vowed to never support any incoming new government.

“I am going to struggle,” he said in an address to the nation on Friday, adding, “I tell all of my supporters across Pakistan, on Sunday, after Isha (evening) prayers, you all have to come out of your homes and protest peacefully against this imported government that is trying to come to power.”

Khan named the senior US government official behind a controversial letter that threatened to overthrow Khan’s government. He has mention the name of Donald Lu, the top American official dealing with South Asia in the US State Department, as the person involved in the ‘foreign conspiracy’ to topple his administration.