Pakistan Picks Shehbaz Sharif as PM for a Second Term

Kamran Haider
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Shehbaz Sharif was selected as Pakistan’s prime minister for a second term after two old-guard parties formed a coalition to keep jailed politician Imran Khan’s party out of power.

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Lawmakers voted for the next premier in the National Assembly on Sunday with Sharif securing 201 votes. His opponent Omar Ayub Khan, who is backed by jailed leader Imran Khan, got 92 votes.

Sharif is expected to be sworn in on Monday. The 72-year-old was prime minister until parliament was dissolved in August in the lead-up to elections. Last month’s polls provided an inconclusive result with no group winning a clear mandate, prompting two family-controlled parties — the Pakistan Muslim League-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party — to eventually nominate Sharif as their candidate.

The Pakistan Muslim League-N is led by Nawaz Sharif, the elder brother of Shehbaz and a three-time prime minister, while the Pakistan Peoples Party is co-chaired by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

However former premier Khan’s independent candidates defied the odds and secured the most seats in the election but refused to form a coalition government with other main parties. Khan’s loyalists have accused authorities of widespread rigging in the poll, an allegation denied by the Election Commission and the caretaker government that supervised the polls.

Pakistan’s Sharif Faces an Even Tougher Task Second Time Around

The new government will seek a fresh loan of at least $6 billion from the International Monetary Fund with the current program ending in April, highlighting the fragile state of the economy. Sharif said last month that Pakistan will need to secure a new loan at the earliest.

Pakistan needs to “carry out a deep surgery to bring revolutionary changes in the system and reform various sectors,” Sharif said in parliament on Sunday after he was named prime minister, speaking at length about the nation’s debt. Sharif plans to gradually reduce the size of its debt, described by the IMF as “borderline” manageable.

Pakistan dollar bonds handed investors a gain of almost 15% this year, the biggest in Asia. The currency is up about 1%.

Sharif helped Pakistan avoid default last year by securing its current $3 billion loan program. He took unpopular steps including removing fuel subsidies and raising energy prices to meet the IMF’s conditions.

He plans to set targets for banks to disburse more loans and will discourage lenders from investing in government securities. The government also plans to give subsidies to farmers and import high-quality seeds to boost farm yields, Sharif said.

His nomination for the top position came as a surprise as Nawaz was widely expected to become prime minister when he returned from exile in London to contest the election. Shehbaz is seen to have maintained good ties with the military that is expected to influence key decisions from behind the scenes.

The house on Friday elected Sharif’s candidate Ayaz Sadiq as speaker of the National Assembly. Sadiq has called for a joint sitting of the upper and lower houses on March 9 to select the country’s president, according to a statement. Members of the two federal houses and four provincial assemblies elect the president for five years.

Sharif’s alliance has agreed to nominate Asif Ali Zardari, the father of Bilawal, for president. Imran Khan’s supporters have picked a Pashtun nationalist, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, as their contender.

--With assistance from Khalid Qayum and Karl Lester M. Yap.

(Updates from second paragraph, adds market trend.)

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