Nawaz Sharif’s political career may be coming to an end after Shehbaz Sharif was nominated as Pakistan’s prime minister

LAHORE: After failing to win the coveted position for a record-tying fourth time, Shehbaz Sharif’s unexpected nomination as Pakistan’s next prime minister is likely to spell the end for his older brother Nawaz Sharif’s political career. Following last week’s elections that left a hung Parliament, Shehbaz Sharif, 72, is anticipated to take office as prime minister following a pact made with other parties by a post-election alliance of major political groups headed by the two brothers to create a coalition government.

In the coup-prone nation, the six-party coalition administration is expected to seize power early next month if everything goes according to plan.

After the general elections on February 8, none of the three main parties—the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the Pakistan People’s Party, and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf—were able to secure a majority in the National Assembly and thus form a government on their own.
According to insiders, Shehbaz Sharif defeated Nawaz Sharif, 74, in the fight for the coveted position, ostensibly with the support of the influential military establishment.

The strong players in Pakistani media have reportedly shown a preference for working with Shehbaz over Nawaz, despite having enabled his return from London in October of last year, which brought an end to his four-year self-imposed exile.

Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of Nawaz Sharif, was quick to deny any rumors about her father’s political career, nevertheless.

“Nawaz Sharif withdrew from the top slot after the split mandate but wanted to become PM for a fourth time,” wrote Maryam on X on Wednesday, her leading candidate for Punjab chief ministership.
The 50-year-old, who is seen as Nawaz Sharif’s political successor, denied rumors that her father’s political career was over, saying, “My father’s political career is not over yet.” The implication that Nawaz has chosen to leave politics is also untrue. He will do with his assigned duties and oversee the federal and Punjabi administrations.”

She stated that while Nawaz Sharif enjoyed a majority in the National Assembly during his three previous terms in office, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) could not get a simple majority this time around.

Maryam, a prominent PML-N vice president, said, “Those who know Nawaz are also aware that he is not interested in leading a coalition government.”
As his troops, Shehbaz and I are obligated to carry out his orders. We’ll operate under his direction and control,” Maryam said.

With Shehbaz Sharif’s declaration as a potential prime minister, divisions within the PML-N have also surfaced, with some senior politicians insisting that Nawaz Sharif ought to have taken the lead in the coalition government.

The PML-N and its leaders have been yelling “Wazeer-e-Azam, Nawaz Sharif”—PM [will be] Nawaz Sharif—for years. The party even predicted that Nawaz Sharif would become prime minister in the event that the PML-N won the election, even during Shehbaz Sharif’s tenure as prime minister.
The older Sharif, according to The Express Tribune newspaper, seems to have had little choice but to nominate his younger brother and daughter and take on a new role as the one who proposes candidates for important posts due to the divided mandate and last-minute changes.

PML-N Senator Asif Karmani said, “We are deeply disheartened that Nawaz Sharif will not be taking over as prime minister.” He said that Nawaz Sharif was informed during the whole campaign that he would be the party’s nominee for prime minister. “But the last-minute change disappointed the party workers,” he said.

“It seems jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan has ended Nawaz’s political career by forcing him to withdraw himself for the coveted post seeing the split mandate,” a different party leader said.

Social media was ablaze on Wednesday, with some asking whether Nawaz Sharif’s political career was gone. The Nawaz faction within the PML-N seemed to be unhappy over Shehbaz’s unexpected candidacy on Tuesday night, as shown by the over 91,000 tweets that appeared to be from PML-N supporters with the hashtag “Pakistan Ko Nawaz Dou (Give Pakistan Nawaz)”.
Maryam will, in the meanwhile, take office as Punjab’s first female chief minister. Punjab is a significant province home to more than 120 million people.

The PTI claims that Maryam’s appointment lacks legitimacy since it is part of their “stolen mandate” to become Chief Minister.

With the addition of 60 women and 10 seats for minorities, the total number of general seats won by these six parties, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s tally, comes to 152. This indicates that they can easily secure the minimum number of 169 needed to form the government at the Center.
In Pakistan, 47.6% of voters participated in the election held on February 8, which was less than the 52.1% voter participation achieved in the last election in 2018.