Nawaz Sharif Says He'll Run for Parliament

Nawaz Sharif will stand in a special election for a vacant seat in Pakistan's parliament, he said yesterday, opening the way for his return to political power. The two-time prime minister, whose Muslim League is set to form a coalition government with Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party after last week's election victory, says he will push parliament to annul the constitutional amendments made by Pervez Musharraf during the state of emergency, writes the Telegraph.

Sharif, whom Musharraf deposed in his 1999 bloodless coup, was banned from running for a seat in parliament due to criminal convictions that he says are baseless. But with the political landscape transformed, Sharif sees an opening. Although Bhutto loyalist Makhdoom Amin Fahim is set to become prime minister, if the fragile coalition collapses Sharif could then push for a third term as head of the government. (More Nawaz Sharif stories.)