LAHORE (AP) – Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will seek a fourth term in office, his party said yesterday, noting he would be its consensus candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections and the office of the prime minister.
Sharif, who has served as prime minister three times, returned to Pakistan in October after four years of self-exile in London to avoid serving prison sentences on corruption charges.
However, his conviction and sentences were overturned on appeal after his return, making him eligible to run for a seat in the Parliament, which will elect the new prime minister after the February 8 vote.
“There is no doubt about it. Nawaz Sharif is our candidate for the office of the prime minister,” said senior leader in Sharif’s party Rana Sanaullah Khan.
Sharif stepped down as prime minister in 2017 over the corruption charges. In July 2018, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison over purchases of luxury apartments in London. In December that year, he was sentenced to a further seven years for failing to disclose how his family set up steel mills in 1999.
