Pakistan's thrice-elected, self-exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns home ahead of vote

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s thrice-elected former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned home Saturday on a chartered plane from Dubai, ending four years of self-imposed exile in London as he seeks to win the support of voters in parliamentary elections due in January.

He is expected to face tough competition from the party of former premier and his main rival, Imran Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 and is currently imprisoned after a court convicted and sentenced him to three years in a graft case.