Sindh Assembly elects Murad Ali Shah as chief minister for record third time

The Sindh Assembly on Monday elected Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Murad Ali Shah as the chief minister of Sindh, a post that he will serve for a record third time.

Murad, the third time lucky, has served twice as Sindh’s chief minister from 2016 to 2018 and then from 2018 to 2023, and this will be his third consecutive term.

Today, the election for the province’s chief executive began after a half-an-hour delay via an open ballot with those supporting PPP’s Shah and Muttahida Qaumu Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Khurshidi directed to go right and left of the assembly hall, respectively.

A total of 148 members of the assembly participated in the polling, which saw Murad securing 112 votes to become the 25th chief minister of Sindh in the contest against Muttahida Qaumi Movement–Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Ali Khurshidi, who got only 36 votes to his name.

Following Murad’s election as the custodian of the House, MQM-P MPA Abdul Waseem congratulated the new CM and expressed hope that the newly elected assembly would resolve the people’s issues.

“We all need to respect the elected members and resolve the problems. I hope Murad Ali Shah will live up to people’s expectations,” he said.

Meanwhile, PPP MPA Sardar Shah also congratulated Murad on his election as the chief minister, saying that it was a great honour to serve the post for the third time which his father once served.

Earlier, at the onset of today’s session, speaker Awais Qadir Shah administered the oath of newly-elected Sindh Assembly member Nadir Magsi, who was unable to take his oath on Saturday with the rest of the lawmakers.

A day earlier, the assembly elected PPP’s Syed Awais Qadir Shah and Anthony Naveed as the new speaker and deputy speaker as the majority of the lawmakers voted for them.