Pakistan’s former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif only returned from exile last year but is now the clear front-runner to win the 8 February election.
Few could have predicted his return to the top, despite his dominance in Pakistani politics these past three decades.
His last term ended in him being convicted of corruption, and the time before that, he was toppled in a military coup.
Still, he appears on the brink of making another successful comeback, a dramatic turnaround for someone who had long been viewed as an opponent to Pakistan’s powerful military.
“He’s a top candidate to be the next premier not because he’s wildly popular – he certainly is – but more so because he’s played his cards right,” says analyst Michael Kugelman, the South Asia Director at the Wilson Center think tank.
Mr Sharif’s arch-rival and former Prime Minister Imran Khan – previously backed by the military – is now the one locked up in jail, his popular party restricted across the country.
