Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was on Monday re-elected as the unopposed president of his party, the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz, the Dawn reported.
Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz leader Tariq Fazal Chaudhry submitted Sharif’s papers for party president to the Election Commission of Pakistan. The commission will formally announce Sharif as the president of his party at the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz’s general council meeting on Tuesday. The former prime minister will address the meeting later.
Hours after Sharif was re-elected president of his party, the Pakistan Parliament amended a law to allow him to take the post. Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain signed the Election Act 2017 into law, after it was passed in the Pakistan National Assembly amid protests from the Opposition benches. Some Opposition lawmakers tore up copies of the law, Reuters reported.
“Nawaz Sharif has to lead our party,” Rana Afzal Khan, a Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz lawmaker said to Reuters. “He’s the symbol of unity in our party.”
But the Opposition disagreed.“You are making a law for one person. You are putting the Assembly at stake for one person,” Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the leader of the Awami Muslim League said.
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