Shehbaz affirms Nawaz Sharif to become Pakistan's PM for record fourth time

Pakistan's former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday reaffirmed that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo Nawaz Sharif will become the prime minister for a record fourth time.

"I had said that Nawaz Sharif would become prime minister for the fourth time. And I maintain today that he is going to be the PM for the fourth time," Shehbaz told a press conference at the party's headquarters here on Tuesday.

When asked whether he was no more favourite to grab the top post, he said: "My candidate for the PM slot is Nawaz Sharif."

The now 74-year-old leader, Nawaz Sharif first took power in 1990 but was forced out three years later by corruption allegations -- a theme that has dogged his career.

He came to power for the second time in 1997 and held the prime minister's post till 1999 when he was deposed in a military coup after plotting to sideline army chief of staff Pervez Musharraf.

More than a decade later he was back in power in 2013, but fresh graft allegations emerged when his children were named in the 2016 Panama Papers leak for holding offshore companies.

He was later convicted over separate corruption allegations and disqualified from office for life -- the third time that he failed to complete a full term.

Shehbaz, the three-time former prime minister's younger brother, talking about the allegation of rigging in the recently concluded February 8 polls said that in several areas Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwarts lost and independents won.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the majority is of independent candidates [] does it mean they won through rigging? And in Sindh and Balochistan, there was no sign of independents, he said.