ISLAMABAD -- Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, is expected to replace his ousted elder brother Nawaz Sharif as Pakistan's prime minister in a power transition that could calm investor jitters ahead of a scheduled general election in early 2018.
The younger Sharif was anointed as prime minister by his brother and will be formally nominated as prime minister by the second half of September if he wins the safe National Assembly seat that was vacated on July 28 by the elder Sharif, who was forced to step down after the Supreme Court ruled that he was disqualified from holding public office because he failed to fully disclose his overseas financial assets. The court said the prime minister had failed to meet the constitution's requirement that elected officials should be "honest and upright."
