Shehbaz Sharif

Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the prime minister of Pakistan since 2024, being the only person to hold it for two consecutive terms, having previously been in the role between 2022 and 2023. He has also served as the chief minister of Punjab three times, spanning over 12 years, making him the longest-serving person in the role, the leader of the opposition, and the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (N).

Sharif was elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1988 and later to the National Assembly of Pakistan in 1990, when his brother became head of the conservative Islami Jamhuri Ittihad (IJI). He was re-elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1993 and appointed leader of the opposition. He was elected as chief minister of Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab, for the first time on 20 February 1997. After the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état, Sharif and his brother were arrested and exiled the next year to Saudi Arabia at the request of the Saudis, returning to Pakistan in 2007. Sharif was elected chief minister for a second term after the PML(N)'s victory in Punjab in the 2008 general election. He was elected as chief minister of Punjab for the third time after provincial election in 2013. Sharif was nominated as the president of the PML(N) after his brother, Nawaz Sharif, was disqualified from holding office in the wake of the Panama Papers case.

Sharif was nominated as the leader of the opposition after the 2018 general election and elected as prime minister in April 2022 after the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan was passed. After the PML(N) won a plurality in the controversial 2024 general election, which was widely marred by allegations of electoral rigging and irregularities in his party's favour, Sharif became prime minister with a coalition government.