President summons NA session on Aug 1 to pick new PM

ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain has summoned session of the National Assembly on August 1 for the election of an interim prime minister.

Supreme Court on Friday disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from public office over long-running corruption allegations, a decision that ousted him from the premiership for the third time.

General elections are scheduled for next year, but Sharif now falls short of becoming the first premier to complete a full five-year term.

Read: Nawaz Sharif shown the door by SC in Panamagate verdict

The allegations against the prime minister spiralled from the Panama Papers leak last year, which sparked a media frenzy over the lavish lifestyles and luxury London property portfolio of the Sharif dynasty.

Those claims prompted an investigation which said there was a “significant disparity” between the family’s income and lifestyle, and unearthed fresh claims over Sharif’s links to companies based in the United Arab Emirates.

The National Assembly session convened by Mr. Mamnoon is expected to start at 3pm.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is set to become Pakistan’s interim prime minister. He is the former federal minister for petroleum and natural resources, and a businessman who launched a private airline.

Considered a long-time loyalist of Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister who was ousted by the Supreme Court on Friday, the 58-year-old Abbasi will act as a placeholder for the Sharif dynasty.

He is due to be rubber stamped by in a parliamentary vote as prime minister until Sharif’s younger brother Shahbaz, a provincial minister, can be elected to the National Assembly and take over the leadership.