Nawaz Sharif's daughter elected to head Pakistan's Punjab, seen as stepping stone

Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, gestures as she speaks during an anti-government protest rally organized by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of political opposition parties, in Peshawar, Pakistan November 22, 2020. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz/File Photo

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of Pakistan's three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was elected on Monday as the head of the country's most populous province, Punjab, in a move underlining the expanding grip of the family in the South Asian nation.

Maryam, 50, her father's political heir, is the first woman to be chief minister of Punjab - a post that has long been a stepping stone to becoming the country's prime minister.