Producer: Mehak Pal Editor: Aparna Singh
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is considered a front-runner to lead the country. He is a chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party and a three-time former prime minister who returned from a four-year self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom late last year.
The younger brother of Nawaz, who led a coalition government for 16 months following the ouster of Imran Khan in 2022. He had previously served as chief minister of Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province.
The embattled former prime minister is currently in jail and is spending the election period in it. He has been imprisoned since August and received multi-year bans from taking part in politics over corruption and criminal charges. He is from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
He served as the country’s foreign minister until a caretaker government took over late last year. He is the son of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. His father, Asif Ali Zardari, was president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013.