KARACHI: Months after stepping down as the caretaker interior minister, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sarfraz Bugti was on Saturday elected unopposed as the new chief minister of the restive Balochistan province. Bugti, who recent-ly joined the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and enjoyed the support of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), submitted his nomi–nation papers with assembly secretary Tahir Shah on Friday, Dawn News reported.
PPP leader and former chief minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri and PML-N leader Nawab Gangeez Khan Marri proposed his name.
No other candidate filed nomination papers till 5pm on Friday.
Bugti’s nomination papers were accepted after scrutiny by the secretary, who also announced that he had been elected unopposed.
The official announcement of Bugti’s election as the leader of the House will be made during the assembly session on Saturday.
Bugti is also expected to be administered the oath later in the day by Balochistan Governor Malik Abdul Wali Kakar in a ceremony at the Governor House.
Separately, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s Ali Amin Gandapur will be sworn in as the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday, according to a statement issued by the provincial governor’s press secretary.
Gandapur has the support of Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) members, an offshoot of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI party.