Election of the Prime Minister, for a five-year term, will be held on Sunday. Newly sworn-in MNAs will participate in the voting process for the prime minister's position. The coalition led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has named Shehbaz Sharif as its candidate for the coveted post for a second term. Whereas, PTI-SIC has nominated Omar Ayub Khan as its candidate for the coveted post. A candidate needs 169 votes in the 336-member parliament to be elected as the premier. According to the election schedule issued by the National Assembly secretariat, nomination papers for the office of the Prime Minister can be submitted till 2:00pm today (Saturday). Scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held at three in the afternoon on the same day.

The nomination papers can be obtained from the legislation branch of the National Assembly. Under the election rules, presence of proposers and endorsers during the scrutiny of nomination papers is mandatory. Earlier on Friday, Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member Ayaz Sadiq was elected speaker of the National Assembly. The results of election held on the basis of secret ballot were announced by the outgoing speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf. According to results, Ayaz Sadiq polled 199 votes while his rival PTI-SIC nominee Aamir Dogar got 91 votes. A total 291 votes were polled and one was rejected. After the election, Ayaz Sadiq went to Aamir Dogar and shook hands with him. He also shook hands with Hamid Raza and Omar Ayub Khan.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)