Nawaz Sharif is on course to become Pakistan's prime minister, as reports projected his party to win an imposing 130 of the 137 seats it needs for a majority. Sharif said he would form a coalition with minority groups to make up the remaining seats.
After 14 years out of power, Nawaz Sharif is poised to become prime minister again, and he is a man in a hurry to clean up what he calls Pakistan's mess.
Sharif said on Saturday his Pakistan Muslim League Party-Nawaz (PMLN) was the clear winner in general elections and that he hoped for a majority to avoid a coalition.
He inherits a country with a dizzying array of troubles, from chronic power cuts to a Taliban insurgency."
The challenges are huge," the portly Sharif told Reuters in his bullet-proof car during the last days of campaigning. "We have to bail out the economy."
Sharif, who vows to bring in free market enterprise and ease economic controls, says speedy growth is the only answer for nuclear-armed Pakistan, a strategic US ally.
His should be a stable government for he will not need any other party bloc to form a coalition; a few independents will do.
Nawaz Sharif appears to have completed an astonishing political comeback in Pakistan's general election.
After an invigorating election campaign, voters here in Pakistan have decided to stick with the familiar by electing Nawaz Sharif.