Former Pakistan PM to run for MP

Nawaz Sharif was ousted in a military coup by Pervez Musharraf

Pakistan's former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, will stand for parliament in a by-election, a party spokesman says.

Mr Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party is currently in negotiations over joining a coalition government.

His party won the second highest number of seats in polls that last week delivered a huge blow to President Pervez Musharraf's allies.

Mr Sharif currently does not have a parliamentary seat and is ineligible to stand for PM.

He is also barred from being prime minister again because he has already held the office twice.

His party has already said it will ask its coalition partner to provide a PM.

The PML-N last week agreed to join a coalition headed by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which won the most seats in the parliamentary polls.

The PPP is widely expected to nominate its vice chairman and stalwart, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, as prime minister.

There is no dearth of vacant seats and the Sharifs can contest by-elections without any problem PML-N spokesman Profile: Nawaz Sharif

Like Mr Sharif, the PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari is not a member of parliament and therefore cannot be a candidate for PM.

He took over at the helm of the party after the assassination in December of his wife - another former Pakistani PM, Benazir Bhutto.

Tentative coalition

A spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said Mr Sharif and his brother were both planning to take part in by-elections.

"Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif will contest by-elections," Siddiqul Farooq told the AFP news agency.

"There is no dearth of vacant seats and the Sharifs can contest by-elections without any problem."

Several by-elections are expected to be held in the next few weeks.

Many details of the coalition between the PML-N and PPP have yet to be worked out and the two parties have a long history of mutual mistrust.

Blow to Musharraf

Mr Sharif and his brother had been banned from taking direct part in general elections because of a series of criminal convictions dating back to 1999, when a military coup brought President Musharraf to power.

The former prime minister returned from exile in Saudi Arabia late last year to lead his party's poll battle.

He has been deeply critical of President Musharraf and says he wants "to rid Pakistan of dictatorship forever".

The new coalition is seen as a threat to Mr Musharraf and may use its parliamentary clout to unseat him.

The president was re-elected late last year in a parliamentary vote boycotted by the opposition as unconstitutional.

He has been a major US ally in the "war on terror" but his popularity has waned at home amid accusations of authoritarianism and incompetence.