PPP's Sarfaraz Bugti elected unopposed as new CM of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province

Karachi: The Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Sarfaraz Bugti was elected unopposed as the new chief minister of the restive Balochistan province on Saturday.

Bugti had stepped down as the caretaker federal interior minister in the interim government to contest the provincial assembly elections on a PPP ticket in the February 8 general elections.

The senior politician also enjoyed the support of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) when he submitted his nomi­­nation papers with Assembly Secretary Tahir Shah on Friday.

No other candidate filed any nomination paper for the chief minister's post till the given deadline on Friday following which Bugti was declared winner unopposed.

Bugti faces a tough challenge as the new chief minister of a province frequently hit by terrorism and separatist violence and an ongoing crisis in the coastal port city of Gwadar and its adjoining areas which have been hit hard by heavy rainfall and flash floods.

After the February 8 general elections, PPP emerged as the largest party in Balochistan and has formed a coalition government with PML-N and Baloch Awami Party in the province.

Bugti also served as the information minister in Balochistan during the government led by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party between 2018 and 2022.