Balochistan Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President, Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, was elected unopposed as the chief Minister of Balochistan on Thursday, replacing National Party leader Dr Abdul Malik Baloch at the helm of the provincial government after two and a half years.
No other candidate submitted nomination papers for the election of the Leader of the House.
A formal announcement of Zehri’s election is expected at 4:00PM, when the PML-N leader will take oath as provincial chief minister.
Dr Abdul Malik Baloch tendered his resignation as Balochistan chief minister on Wednesday and Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai has already accepted it.
Earlier this month, Zehri was nominated as chief minister by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his capacity as the president of the PML-N.
Under the Murree Accord, the coalition arrangement between the PML-N, NP, and the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) after the May 2013 polls, Dr Abdul Malik Baloch was elected as the chief minister for a period of two-and-a-half years.
The PML-N bagged 17 seats, PkMAP 14 and National Party 10 seats in the 65-member Balochistan Assembly in the 2013 general elections, but the smallest party of the group was awarded the exalted office for the first half of the five-year tenure in the light of the formula decided by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who said he wished to accommodate the nationalists in the larger interest of the country.
Meanwhile, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi, congratulated Rahila Hameed Khan Durrani and Dr Mehar Taj Roghani on their election as Baluchistan Assembly Speaker and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Deputy Speaker.
In their separate congratulatory messages, they said that the election of women as speaker and deputy speaker of the provincial assemblies have established a new tradition in the country’s parliamentary history. It reflects that the Pakistani nation truly believes in democratic values and recognises the status of women as equal members of society, they added.
They expressed hope that the newly elected speaker and deputy speaker will run their Houses according to the rules, and work for strengthening democratic norms in their provinces. They prayed for their success during their constitutional tenure.
