Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Saturday took oath as Pakistan’s 22nd Prime Minister, three weeks after his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won the highest number of seats in the general election.

Khan, who outvoted opposition and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Shahbaz Sharif in the Prime Minister’s election on Friday, was administered his oath by President Mamnoon Hussain at the President House here, reports Dawn news.

Clad in a black sherwani, Khan was accompanied by his wife Bushra Imran.

High-profile guests including caretaker Prime Minister Nasirul Mulk, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan and Naval Chief Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi were in attendence.

Other notable guests present include former Indian cricket star Navjot Singh Sidhu, cricketer-turned-commentator Rameez Raja, legendary paceman Wasim Akram, newly-elected Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, singers Salman Ahmed and Abrarul Haq, actor Javaid Sheikh, former National Assembly speaker Fehmida Mirza and senior PTI leaders.

After the PTI emerged as the biggest parliamentary party in the wake of the July 25 polls, all 120 of the party’s parliamentary committee members rubber-stamped Khan’s candidacy for the post of the Prime Minister.

Yesterday, in his first address to Parliament, Khan vowed to act against those who looted Pakistan.

“I promise my nation today that we will bring the tabdeeli (change) that this nation was starving for,” said Khan.

“We have to hold strict accountability in this country; the people who looted this country, I promise that I will work against them,” he vowed.

The Oxford-educated Pasthun, who launched Tehreek-e-Insaf, which means the movement for justice, in 1996, said that he reached this place after struggling for 22 years.

The PTI emerged as the single largest party with 116 seats in July 25 elections. Its number increased to 125 after nine independent members joined it and final tally reached 158 after it was allotted 28 out of 60 seats reserved for women and five out of 10 seats reserved for minorities.

Khan’s government will be the third consecutive democratic government in Pakistan since 2008 when military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf announced elections after serving as president from 2001 to 2008 following a bloodless coup in 1999.

The Pakistan Peoples Party formed the government in 2008, followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz led by jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2013.

Pakistan’s powerful military has ruled the country through various coups for nearly half of the country’s history since independence in 1947.

(With agency inputs)