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Former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif is seeking 4th term
A corruption verdict against the three-time Prime Minister of Pakistan had prevented him from running again - now it has been overturned. Sharif is the military's preferred candidate.
FILE PHOTO: Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gestures to supporters upon his arrival from a self-imposed exile in London, ahead of the 2024 Pakistani general election, in Lahore, Pakistan, October 21, 2023. REUTERS/Mohsin Raza/File Photo
The Election Commission has accepted the nomination papers of former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, despite concerns about his eligibility to participate in the general elections scheduled for February 8. This decision follows the Supreme Court’s “life-long disqualification” ruling.
Sharif’s team of lawyers informed reporters that the Election Commission accepted the nomination papers for the National Assembly seat from Lahore (NA-130), and no objections to the 73-year-old Sharif’s candidacy were raised. Sharif, as the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party leader, is now set to contest from both Lahore and Mansahra City in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. In response to inquiries about Sharif’s purported lifetime disqualification, the lawyers asserted that Sharif’s disqualification had concluded following his acquittal in corruption references.
The entire leadership of the Sharif family, including Nawaz Sharif, his younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, and nephew Hamza Shehbaz, is primarily participating in the elections in Lahore.
Upon his return to the country in October from a four-year self-imposed exile in London for medical reasons, Nawaz Sharif was acquitted in two significant corruption cases, the Avenfield Apartments and Al-Azizia Steel Mills, by the Islamabad High Court.
It seems that Sharif is eligible to contest elections, thanks to an amendment to the Elections Act introduced by the previous Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government. This amendment to Section 232 of the Elections Act limits disqualifications to five years. Sharif’s team explained the law governing punishment cannot be retroactively applied unless the legislature explicitly provides for this effect. They noted that the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling, which states that disqualification under Article 62(1f) of the Constitution is lifelong, directly affects Nawaz Sharif, who was disqualified under this provision.
Nawaz Sharif, the only Pakistani politician to serve as prime minister three times in a country prone to coups, has been accorded the protocol of a Prime Minister-designate with the military’s support.
The party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan alleges the existence of the “London Plan”, claiming that Sharif will become Prime Minister after the February 8 polls with the approval of the military establishment under Army Chief Gen Asim Munir. Nawaz Sharif declared several times that no such plan exists.
