ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's newly elected Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said he will follow in the footsteps of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif who was disqualified by the country's Supreme Court on Friday for concealing assets.

Abbasi, in his first televised comments after being elected by the National Assembly as prime minister, said he could say with full confidence that Sharif was not involved in corruption, as claimed by his political opponents.

Abbasi said legal experts were also surprised by Friday's court decision to disqualify Sharif.

In his emotional speech, he said Sharif was victimized for putting Pakistan back on the path of progress and bringing in foreign investments worth billions of dollars to Pakistan.

He said Sharif was able to attract foreign investment because he was an honest person.

Earlier, lawmakers elected Abbasi and banged on benches and chanted "Lion, lion Nawaz Sharif" after the vote.

A quick transition may ease fears that the nuclear-armed nation will be plunged into another bout of political turmoil, which could erode economic and security gains since the last poll in 2013.

Abbasi is mandated to keep the seat warm for Nawaz Sharif's younger brother, Shahbaz who will probably take the helm within two months.

Abbasi was confirmed with 221 votes in the 342-seat assembly as the PML-N used its hefty majority to push through his appointment. PML-N officials hugged each other and congratulated Abbasi even before the result was announced.

"Within four days the process of democracy is back on track," Abbasi told lawmakers after being voted in. "Above all, I'm thankful to Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, the people's prime minister."

The plan to eventually install Shahbaz has also sparked anger among supporters of opposition leader Imran Khan, who has criticized another bout of dynastic politics, a trend with a long history in Pakistan and elsewhere in South Asia.

Khan, who agitated with street protests until the Supreme Court took up a corruption case against Sharif, has called the family a "monarchy" and accused it of trying to turn the country into a personal fiefdom.

Shahbaz, now chief minister of eastern Punjab province that is home to more than half of Pakistan's 190 million people, will have to resign and fight a parliamentary by-election before he can take over as prime minister.

Aides say he is likely to favor a new personal style of government, while probably continuing his brother's focus on huge infrastructure projects and policies favoring business.

Western-educated Abbasi, who started his career as a businessman, has spent most of his political life by Sharif's side. He was jailed after Pakistan's powerful military staged a coup in 1999 to topple a previous Sharif government.

As minister of petroleum and natural resources in Sharif's last cabinet, he championed a push to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure and alleviate energy shortages.

The opposition has also accused Abbasi of corruption over the bidding for an LNG deal in southern Karachi, citing a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquiry case filed in 2015 that alleges procurement irregularities.

The NAB case has made little progress and Abbasi has denied wrongdoing. — Agencies