Shehbaz Sharif elected PML-N's 'permanent president'

ISLAMABAD: Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been elected as permanent president of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), ARY News reported.  

Shehbaz was elected unopposed as no other party leader filed nomination papers to contest the intra-party election for the party presidency.

On Feb 27, the PML-N Central Working Committee elected him as the party’s acting president until the general council meeting to elect the full-time president.

Former premier Nawaz Sharif was elected as the party’s Quaid for life.

During the CWC meeting, attended by Sharif, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as well as other senior party leaders, Shehbaz had emerged as a consensus choice for the top party position.

The elder Sharif also threw his weight behind his younger brother for reportedly performing well in Punjab and keeping the party united by dint of his “exceptional qualities”.

Nawaz Sharif remained the party chief until the Supreme Court declared him ineligible to head his party.

On Feb 21, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar gave the verdict on a number of petitions challenging the controversial amendment to the Election Act 20117, which allowed Sharif to head his party.

The court declared that all decisions taken by Nawaz as PML-N president since July 28 stand null and void after the judgment.