Shahbaz Sharif elected as Chief Minister of Pakistan's Punjab

PML-N leader Shahbaz Sharif was today elected Chief Minister of Pakistan's most populous province of Punjab province for the third time, a day after his elder brother Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as Prime Minister.
Sharif bagged 300 votes in the election in the 372-strong Assembly this afternoon.
The opposition's candidate, Mahmoodur Rashid of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, secured 34 votes.
The seven members of the Pakistan People's Party abstained from the election as the joint opposition comprising the Tehrik-e-Insaf and PML-Q did not seek their votes.
Sharif was scheduled to take oath of office at the Governor's House later in the evening.

The PML-N secured a two-thirds majority in the Assembly by bagging 305 seats in the May 11 polls.

Sharif was first elected Chief Minister in 1997.
He became Chief Minister for a second time on his return to Pakistan from seven years in self-exile in 2008.
He is likely to have a small cabinet.
In his last stint as Chief Minister, Sharif had retained as many as 22 portfolios with himself.
In a speech after his election, Sharif said Punjab's biggest problem was power outages.
"We need to use all our resources to overcome this problem. We must work on a war footing and end load shedding," he said.

He also outlined his plans for several developmental programmes.
Sharif's elder brother Nawaz Sharif yesterday became premier for an unprecedented third term.