In this Monday, July 31, 2017 photo, Pakistan's premier-designate Shahid Khaqan Abbasi the Parliament house in Islamabad, Pakistan. Pakistan's lower house of parliament on Tuesday elected Abbasi as the country's new prime minister, less than a week after the Supreme Court disqualified thrice-elected Nawaz Sharif for concealing assets. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Republished August 01, 2017 - 8:18 AM
Original Publication Date July 29, 2017 - 10:16 AM
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's newly-elected prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, is a veteran lawmaker and close ally of Nawaz Sharif, who nominated him for the country's top political post after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif on allegations of corruption.
Abbasi, 58, has been elected six times to Pakistan's National Assembly or powerful Lower House of Parliament.
He was first elected to Parliament in 1988 from the mountain resort area of Murree in Pakistan's largest province of Punjab, where 60 per cent of Pakistan's 200 million people live.
He has served in a variety of Cabinet positions. Most recently he was Petroleum Minister in Sharif's Cabinet until Friday's Supreme Court decision disqualified Sharif and forced the selection of a replacement.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017