June 08, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 03, 1429

LAHORE, June 7: With the PML-Q out of the race, PML-N President Mian Shahbaz Sharif was elected unopposed as the Punjab chief minister after his election papers were found in order on Saturday.

His election, now a mere formality, will take place at a special session of the provincial assembly on Sunday morning. He is scheduled to take oath as the chief minister along with members of his cabinet at the Governor’s House the same evening.

The schedule for the election was announced at a session of the provincial assembly.

Earlier in the day, Mian Shahbaz Sharif filed his nomination papers with the assembly secretary and called on the speaker in his chambers.

Mr Sharif was the Punjab chief minister when Gen Pervez Musharraf took over in 1999, sending him and elder brother, the then Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, first behind bars and then into exile to Saudi Arabia.

Mr Shahbaz Sharif told a press conference later the Punjab government had noting to do with lawyers’ long march and only the PML-N would participate in it.