Wife of ousted Pakistani PM wins key Lahore seat

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Kulsoom Nawaz retained the key Lahore parliamentary seat of her husband, ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in a closely-fought by-election on Sunday.

Official results are yet to be announced but officials say Kulsoom, who did not campaign as she is receiving treatment for cancer in London, scooped about 53.5 percent of the vote, with the party's majority reduced from about 61 percent in the 2013 general election.

Activists of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif party celebrate victory in by-election in Lahore on September 17, 2017. /AFP Photo

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) wanted to demonstrate that support for the Sharif family was undiminished despite the Supreme Court's removal of Nawaz, who has kept control of the party and installed long-term ally Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as prime minister.

Maryam Nawaz, who some PML-N leaders see as a future leader, spearheaded the PML-N campaign for her mother with fiery speeches denouncing the judiciary.

Maryam alleged that many party workers had suffered intimidation, saying dozens of PML-N activists were blindfolded and picked up from their homes at night, while others received threatening phone calls from unknown numbers during the campaign.

Kulsoom Nawaz (L) and Maryam Nawaz (R), wife and daughter respectively of former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif, in Lahore on May 4, 2013. /AFP Photo‍

"This victory is a message to the forces hatching conspiracies against Nawaz Sharif that there would be only rules of people and democracy," she said.

Nawaz, who served two stints in power in 1990s until he was deposed in a military coup in 1999, had strained ties with the military during his third stint in power that ended in his ouster, when the Supreme Court disqualified him for failure to declare a monthly salary, equivalent to around 2,700 US dollars, from a company owned by his son. Sharif denies receiving the salary.

Ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gestures as he addresses supporters at a rally in his home city of Lahore on August 12, 2017. /AFP Photo

The main opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party made gains but alleged voter irregularities in the eastern city of Lahore, the electoral heartlands of the Sharif family since 1980s.

Opposition leader Imran Khan -- whose threats of street protests pushed the Supreme Court to launch a probe into Nawaz's wealth -- had sought to build on the success of his anti-graft crusade by making inroads into Sharifs' power base in Punjab.

Khan turned the by-election into a plebiscite about corruption and has accused the provincial Punjab government, which is run by Nawaz's brother Shahbaz, of abusing state resources to help the PML-N campaign.

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Source(s): Reuters