Shahbaz Sharif emerges as strong candidate for premiership
Shares
Speculation within the vocal local media suggests that the party is planning to bring in an interim prime minister for a few weeks before electing Sharif’s younger brother Shahbaz Sharif to the post.
The young Sharif is currently chief minister of powerful Punjab province -- the Sharif family stronghold. He would have to step down from that role and be elected to the National Assembly before he was eligible to become prime minister.
That will require a party loyalist to resign from his seat in the national parliament, sparking a hasty vote that Shahbaz would contest on the PML-N ticket.
Shahbaz is considered more intelligent but less charismatic than his older brother.
He has controlled Punjab -- Pakistan’s most populous and prosperous province -- for much of the last decade, presiding over a series of big ticket infrastructure projects, including Pakistan’s first metro bus service.
