Gulbar Khan, the head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) forward bloc, was elected Gilgit-Baltistan’s next chief minister on Thursday. In the days preceding the appointment, the voting process was marred by controversy.
As three other contenders withdrew their candidacy, leaving only 20 members in the parliament, Gulbar emerged as the undisputed option for chief minister. He was elected with 19 votes in his favor. However, one independent legislator called Nawaz Khan Naji did not vote, while lawmakers of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) backed Gulbar as the next chief minister.
In a show of dissatisfaction all 11 members of the PTI’s ‘like-minded group’ opted to boycott the election, citing cheating.
The need for the election came as a result of the disqualification of former CM Khalid Khursheed by the region’s top court for possessing a forged degree.
Following Khalid Khursheed’s ouster, the PTI broke into two factions: the forward bloc and the like-minded or ‘humkhayal’ group, the latter of which chose to boycott the election.
