Shahbaz Sharif Elected Prime Minister of Pakistan in Agreement with Five Parties

Shahbaz Sharif has been elected as the Prime Minister of Pakistan by his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, along with five other parties that have reached an agreement to form a coalition government. Accordingly, he is set to begin his second term as Prime Minister in the coming days. Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz's elder brother, who previously served three terms as Prime Minister, did not run for the position this time. His daughter, Maryam, wrote in a post on 'X' that her father does not want to lead a minority coalition government, as his party was in the majority during his previous terms. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz holds only 80 seats in the 264-seat Parliament, but the Pakistan People's Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Pakistan Stability Party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid, and the Awami National Party of Balochistan have promised to support this party. After the Pakistani Parliament voted to oust Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister and Shahbaz Sharif's rival, in 2022, Shahbaz played a key role in maintaining the coalition of disparate parties for 16 months. Towards the end of his short term as Prime Minister, in mid-2023, he managed to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a $3 billion loan. With the arrival of 72-year-old Shahbaz Sharif as Prime Minister, the government’s disputes with Pakistan's powerful military are expected to come to an end. Prior to his rise, Imran Khan had political disagreements with military commanders. At that time, Nawaz Sharif was in voluntary exile in London and was barred from holding government positions. Shahbaz Sharif was primarily known as a good administrator rather than a politician before taking office, having served three times as Chief Minister of the largest province, Punjab. During his premiership, he quickly took on the role of a reconciler among coalition parties that often conflicted over key policies. His greatest achievement during his short term was securing financial assistance from the IMF for Pakistan, which was on the brink of debt default. The agreement between Islamabad and the IMF was signed after Shahbaz contacted Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the institution, last June. However, during his administration, inflation soared above 38% due to the unprecedented depreciation of the rupee, largely as a result of measures taken in accordance with the IMF program. Shahbaz Sharif attributes the economic collapse to Imran Khan's government, which, according to him, disrupted the agreement with the IMF just before his ousting. He stated that his government was forced to eliminate a series of subsidies, which fueled inflation; inflation is now around 30% and economic growth has been reduced to about 2%. However, the primary role of the new Prime Minister is to maintain relations with the military, which has dominated Pakistan directly or indirectly since the country's independence. Analysts say that the generals are more aligned with Shahbaz Sharif than with his elder brother, Nawaz Sharif. The elections in Pakistan; independents supported by Imran Khan topped the results. The Pakistani military described the election as successful; the international community called for transparency. In the parliamentary elections, imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan claimed victory. Nawaz Sharif declared victory in the elections, stating that he must lead the country out of the 'whirlwind.' Attacks by militants and mobile phone outages continued in Pakistan; counting of parliamentary election votes began. An explosion near the offices of parliamentary election candidates killed 26 people. Imran Khan was sentenced to ten years in prison on the eve of the general elections in Pakistan.