Nawaz Sharif re-elected PML-N president unopposed

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has on Tuesday re-elected former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as the party's president unopposed for a period of four years. A general council meeting of the party is also being held today (Tuesday) to re-elect the former prime minister as the PML-N president where the formal announcement of his re-election as party president would be made. His re-election on Tuesday came after parliament the previous day approved a bill allowing officials disqualified by courts to hold party offices. Sharif resigned as prime minister in July after the Supreme Court disqualified him for concealing financial assets and he is now facing trial before an anti-corruption court. He was also forced to step down as president of PML-N, though he kept control of the party and installed Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a loyalist, as prime minister. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party on Monday (October 2) used its parliamentary majority to amend a law to permit him to be re-elected as party chief. Earlier, the parliament amended a law to enable Sharif to re-take PML-N leadership. The amendment bill was presented by country's law minister Zahid Hamid and passed by lower house with a majority. A previous election bill barred from office someone disqualified under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution, which was used by the courts to remove Sharif. "You are making a law for one person. You are putting the assembly on stake for one person," said Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the leader of Awami Muslim League.