AA / Ankara / Dilara Hamit
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent his congratulations to the new Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday during a telephone interview.
According to the Communications Directorate of the Turkish Presidency, Erdogan called Sharif after his swearing-in.
Sharif was sworn in on Monday after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted in a vote of no confidence which he unsuccessfully tried to thwart. Imran Khan has maintained that he was the victim of a US plot to impeach him.
Erdogan wished that the results of these elections will be beneficial for the friendly and brotherly people of Pakistan. He said they are closely following developments in Pakistan, a country to which Turkey is bound by deep historical ties, friendship and brotherhood.
He also pointed out that Pakistan has not given up on democracy and the rule of law, despite all the challenges and difficulties it has faced. He added that Turkey is ready to extend any kind of support to Pakistan as it has always done so far.
Shehbaz Sharif, younger brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and common opposition coalition candidate, won 174 votes in the lower house of Pakistan’s parliament, which has 342 members.
A minimum of 172 votes was needed to obtain a simple majority in Parliament.
Sharif’s opponent, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was the ousted prime minister’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party candidate, boycotted the election after his party’s decision to step down of parliament.
Ousted Prime Minister Khan and more than 120 PTI MPs have announced they are resigning from parliament and will ‘take on the imported government in the streets’.
These resignations will however only be effective when the President of the National Assembly has accepted them, in accordance with the country’s Constitution.
*Translated from English by Mourad Belhaj
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