Pakistan elections: PTI nominates Imran Khan as PM candidate
Imran Khan
The PTI is also expected to name its Cabinet with several ministers belonging to the allies.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) today nominated Imran Khan, 65, as their prime ministerial candidate, reports said.
PTI parliamentary committee picked Imran's name with the party days away from staking claim in the National Assembly, Pakistan's lower house of Parliament amid reports of the Opposition led by Pakistan's People's Party(PPP) and Sharif's (PML-N) ready to align in order prevent Imran's party from coming to power.
The PTI had emerged as the largest single party in the polls held on July 25th winning 116 seats in the national assembly, 21 short of the majority.
Pakistan's National Assembly comprises of 342 members out of with 272 are directly elected. Imran's party needs 137 seats to claim majority status in the House. The PTI has been lobbying support from the smaller parties including Independents.
Reports say PTI has been able to get the support of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) which will help it to go beyond the 137 mark. Other parties - Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan(MQM-P) have also expressed their support to Khan's party, reports said.
The PTI is also expected to name its Cabinet with several ministers belonging to the allies.
The polls which were conducted amid reports of large-scale rigging and interference by the Army was finally won by Imran's party with PML-(N) chief Nawaz Sharif in jail along with his daughter Maryam.
The official date for the swearing-in ceremony still hasn't been announced with several reports claiming it would take place on August 14th which is Pakistan's Independence Day.