Ex-PM can run in Pakistani election

Ex-PM can run in Pakistani election

A Pakistani court has ruled that former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Raja Pervez Ashraf can run as a candidate in next month’s parliamentary election.

On Monday, the Lahore High Court, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, accepted Ashraf’s appeal against the verdict of an election tribunal and a returning officer which had declared him ineligible to contest the elections, Pakistan’s Dawn News network reported.

A returning officer is an official responsible for overseeing elections in a constituency.

On April 15, the tribunal disqualified Ashraf from running for a National Assembly seat from his native Gojar Khan district in central Punjab province over corruption allegations.

The tribunal endorsed an earlier decision by Khalid Arshad, the returning officer, who rejected Ashraf’s nomination papers on April 7, after an opponent of the former prime minister accused him of misappropriating development funds and indulging in nepotism.

Ashraf became prime minister in June 2012 after Pakistan’s Supreme Court sacked his predecessor — Yousuf Raza Gilani — over his refusal to ask Switzerland to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

He stepped down in March 2013, in line with the Pakistani Constitution, which states that after its five-year term expires the government should step down and hand over power to a caretaker government until elections are held.

Pakistan will hold elections on May 11 for 272 general seats of the National Assembly and a total of 577 seats in the four provincial assemblies.