PPP Candidate Amjad Hussain Elected Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan

PPP’s Advocate Amjad Hussain was formally elected as the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan on Monday — an outcome achieved without any competing nomination — just hours after the newly constituted assembly members were administered their oaths of office. The election marked the culmination of a carefully orchestrated power-sharing arrangement between the PPP, PML-N, and Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) following the June 7 elections.

Speaker and Deputy Speaker Elected Before CM Vote

The day’s proceedings had begun in the morning when the first session of the sixth Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly convened in Gilgit. A total of 30 members were sworn in, comprising 21 general seat lawmakers, six women members on reserved seats, and three technocrats. The results for three general constituencies remain pending due to ongoing legal and electoral proceedings.

The oath-taking ceremony was conducted by outgoing GB Assembly Speaker Nazir Ahmed at 10am, following which the session was adjourned until 3pm and subsequently resumed at 4pm.

Upon resumption, the Speaker announced the election schedule for the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker, setting a deadline of 5:15pm for the filing and withdrawal of nomination papers. Rules were also temporarily suspended — with assembly members’ approval — to allow elections for all three key positions to be conducted on the same day.

PPP’s Imran Nadeem Shigri from Shigar constituency and PML-N’s Malik Kifayatur Rehman from Diamer filed their respective nominations for the positions of Speaker and Deputy Speaker. With no other candidates entering the contest, both were elected unopposed. Outgoing Speaker Nazir Ahmed administered the oath to Nadeem, who then administered the oath to Rehman as Deputy Speaker.

Amjad Hussain Elected CM at 8PM

With the Speaker and Deputy Speaker in place, Speaker Nadeem announced the election schedule for the Leader of the House, setting 7:40pm as the deadline for filing nomination papers for the Chief Minister’s position. PPP’s Amjad Hussain submitted his nomination, but crucially, no other candidate filed papers for the position. At 8pm, Speaker Nadeem officially declared Hussain elected as GB Chief Minister unopposed — bringing the day’s constitutional proceedings to a decisive close.

The assembly hall was packed throughout the proceedings, with guests, journalists, politicians, VIPs, and supporters filling the galleries. PPP Central General Secretary Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Information Secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira, GB Governor Syed Mehdi Shah, and other prominent political figures were present in the VIP galleries as enthusiastic supporters chanted slogans in favour of the winning candidates.

Profiles of the New Assembly Leadership

Imran Nadeem Shigri, now elected Speaker, represents GBA-12 Shigar and has a long history in regional politics, having previously served as an assembly member in 2004 from PML-Q. Malik Kifayatur Rehman, the new Deputy Speaker, was elected from GBA-15 Diamer-I (Tangir), where he notably defeated former Chief Minister Haji Gulbar Khan in the recent elections — a result that was itself one of the most closely watched outcomes of the June 7 vote.

Post-Election Seat Distribution and Political Alliances

Following the June 7, 2026 elections, the PPP emerged as the largest party with 13 seats, followed by PML-N with 9, IPP with 6, while MWM and a PTI-backed independent each secured one seat. Despite the PPP’s decision to form the government with the backing of both PML-N and IPP, it was formally agreed that PML-N would sit on the opposition benches — a unique arrangement where the second-largest party simultaneously supports the ruling coalition while officially maintaining an opposition identity in the assembly.