Maryam Nawaz set to Become Punjab’s First Female Chief Minister

Lahore: Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is on the brink of becoming the first woman Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province following the summoning of the inaugural session of the provincial legislature scheduled for Friday.

Of the five assemblies in Pakistan that went to the polls on February 8, the Punjab Assembly is the first to convene its opening session.

“Punjab Governor Balighur Rahman has called the Punjab Assembly session for Friday, during which newly elected members of the assembly will be sworn in, and the formation of the new government will commence,” a spokesperson for the Governor’s House announced on Thursday.

Maryam, aged 50, also serves as the senior vice president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. She is widely regarded as the political heir of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who surprisingly nominated his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif as the party’s prime ministerial candidate. The PML-N has put forward Maryam as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in Punjab, a province with a population of over 120 million people.

In the Punjab Assembly elections, the PML-N secured 137 seats, while independents backed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won 113 seats. Additionally, around 20 independents, not backed by PTI, have already aligned themselves with the PML-N.

Independent candidates supported by PTI have joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) to secure reserved seats for women and minorities, as well as to safeguard their elected members from being coerced into changing their loyalty by the military establishment.

However, the SIC may not receive reserved seats for women and minorities, potentially leaving the PML-N with a simple majority in Punjab.

“The Election Commission of Pakistan is expected to announce the allocation of reserved seats in the Provincial Assembly on Thursday. The SIC is unlikely to receive its share due to legal questions, as its head himself did not contest on his party ticket, and the deadline to submit a list of candidates for reserved seats has passed,” an official source informed Press Trust of India.

Outgoing Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan emphasized that since the PTI-backed MPAs-elect have joined the SIC, the party should be allocated reserved seats. “A constitutional crisis will ensue if the reserved seats of SIC/PTI are allotted to other parties,” the speaker warned.

Meanwhile, Maryam has already been provided with security typically accorded to the chief minister, and she is engaging in meetings with the top bureaucracy of the province.