After emgering as the single largest side in the national assembly in the July 25 general elections, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has officially nominated Imran Khan as the party's prime ministerial candidate.
The 65-year-old cricketer-turned-politician was nominated by the party's parliamentary committee during a meeting at a hotel in Islamabad. PTI's top leader and elected members, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Pervez Khattak, Chaudhry Sarwar, Fawad Chaudhry, Arif Alvi and Shafqat Mahmood, attended the meeting.
A resolution, presented by Shah Mahmood Qureshi, favouring Khan's nomination was accepted by the PTI members. The meeting was taken into confidence about the formation of the government and it unanimously decided to nominate Imran Khan as party nominee for the Prime Minister, according to PTI sources.
The swearing-in ceremony is expected to take place on August 14, the Independence Day of the country. Initially, the ceremony was supposed to take place on August 11.
Pakistan's National Assembly comprises a total of 342 members, of which 272 are directly elected. A party can only form the government if it manages to clinch 172 seats in total.
PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry claimed that allies and reserved seats will take the party tally to 174 seats in the National Assembly.