Pakistan's newly-elected PM Shehbaz mistakenly calls himself "leader of the opposition" in victory speech

Islamabad, Pakistan's newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday mistakenly called himself "leader of the opposition" in his victory speech in the National Assembly. Shehbaz, who was the consensus candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for the prime minister's post, received 201 votes in the 336-member house. His challenger Omar Ayub Khan of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secured only 92 votes.

In his victory speech, the 72-year-old PML-N president thanked his elder brother Nawaz and all the allies for putting their trust in him.

However, he mistakenly called himself "leader of the opposition" in his speech while expressing gratitude to his party members for his election.


"I want to express heartfelt thanks to my party members who voted and elected me the leader of the opposition of this house," he said.

Shehbaz will be administered the oath of office on Monday at the Presidential mansion, Aiwan-e-Sadr.

Shehbaz earlier served as prime minister of a coalition government from April 2022 to August 2023 before Parliament was dissolved to hold general elections.