Pakistan: Iman Khan's PTI nominates Omar Ayub as PM candidate

Former jailed Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday (Feb 15) nominated party general secretary Omar Ayub as its candidate for prime minister, a report by the news agency Reuters said. The announcement was made by former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser who held a meeting with Imran Khan at Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail.

Qaiser hoped that the country's new prime minister would be from the PTI, and pointed out that the party's mandate was stolen in last week's general elections.

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Who is Omar Ayub?

Omar Ayub was born on Jan 26, 1968. He is the grandson of former Pakistan president Field Marshal Ayub Khan. Ayub had served as the federal minister of economic affairs under Imran Khan's leadership. He was also the federal minister of energy under Khan's leadership.

Ayub was first elected to the National Assembly as a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) in the 2002 general elections. He joined Nawaz Sharif's PML-N in 2012 and then joined the PTI in 2018.

Shehbaz Sharif is the coalition's PM candidate

The announcement of PTI naming Omar Ayub as PM candidate came after thePakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) announced that Shehbaz Sharif would be its PM candidate. On Tuesday (Feb 13), Sharif was named by the PML-N and coalition allies to head the country despite his elder brother and three-time PM Nawaz Sharif winning a seat in the assembly and being the favourite to be sworn in for a fourth term.

Shehbaz Sharif first served as PM from April 2022 until August 2023 when parliament dissolved ahead of the Feb 8 general elections. Sharif, 72, played a key role in keeping together a coalition of disparate parties after Imran Khan was ousted from the prime minister's post in April 2022.

He became PM as the PML-N buried differences with the Pakistani military in the face of their common rival - Khan. Before becoming the PM, Sharif served as Punjab province's chief minister thrice, making him the longest-serving CM of the province.

Maryam Nawaz nominated as Punjab CM

Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz has been nominated as the chief minister of Punjab, the PML-N announced on Tuesday. Maryam entered politics in 2012 and was put in charge of the PML-N's campaign during the 2013 general elections.

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A few days back, Maryam said in a post on X that her father did not want to run a minority coalition government (in Pakistan) having had clear majorities in his three previous stints as premier.

Re-polling underway in three constituencies

Repolling is currently underway in the polling stations of Khushab (NA-88), Kohat (PK-90) and Ghotki (PS-18). The polling in these three constituencies was halted on election day (Feb 8) due to violence and vandalisation of the polling material, a report by Geo News said.

The re-polling started at 8 am and would go on till 5 pm.