Cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan will start a new inning on Saturday as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan, with the promise to offer the change the "this nation has waited 70 years".
Khan will be sworn in President Mamnoon Hussain in the House of the President at 9.30 am (Pakistan Standard Time).
Elected Prime Minister by the newly established National Assembly on Friday, he gained 176 votes in the house with 342 members, defeating Shahbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), who received only 96 votes when the Pakistani People's Party abstained.
While Speaker Asad Qaiser announced the outcome, proosts broke out of PTI lawmakers while PML (Nawaz) members propagated slogans against Khan, leading to a brief adjournment.
In his first speech to lawmakers as a nominated Prime Minister, Khan relieved allegations of electoral fraud and insured to identify the people who had plundered the country and brought him to justice. He has ruled out a National Reconciliation Regulation (NRO) for "dacoits".
"Today, I want to thank Allah who has given me the opportunity to change Pakistan, the change that this nation has been waiting for 70 years! I promise my nation that the change we will bring is the change that this land hoped for and prayed for, "he said.
"The first thing we have to do is strict responsibility, those people who plundered the country, I promise they will be brought to justice."
"Those who have stolen the money from this nation and put it in court have stowed abroad, I will call them Inshallah to account, "he said. Khan called the father of the land, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and said: "My father was never in politics, I had no political experience, I struggled for 22 years and I am proud that we can lead this country to some our hero Quaid e Azam was in mind, his battle was the strongest. "
He also thanked the youth of the country" because of who I am here today. "If they had not got out, we would not have been here today" and assured his government that it would work on "a prosperous future" for them.
Recalling his sports career, as the cricket captain of Pakistan, he said that in the history of the game "he was the solo captain who fought for neutral referees and brought them for the first time in 1986".
Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party won the most seats in the July 25 vote but failed to win a majority in the 342 seats. However, it had received support from smaller parties and independents to reach halfway the border.
First published: August 18, 2018 06:32 IST
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