Sharif Sworn In as Prime Minister

Lawmakers sealed the political defeat of Benazir Bhutto, giving her longtime nemesis an overwhelming vote of confidence and making him prime minister. Bhutto received only 16 votes in a secret ballot, compared with the 177 won by Nawaz Sharif of the centrist Pakistan Muslim League. Sharif, who served as prime minister from 1990 to 1993, returned to power in a solemn ceremony at the presidential palace in Islamabad. In Feb. 3 general elections, Sharif’s party won 137 seats in the 207-seat National Assembly, the powerful lawmaking lower house of parliament. Bhutto’s left-leaning Pakistan People’s Party won only 18 seats. She had ruled the previous parliament with a coalition government. President Farooq Leghari fired Bhutto’s government in November for alleged corruption.