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Nawaz Sharif was poised for a record third term as Pakistan's Prime Minister with his PML-N party today taking an unassailable lead in parliamentary elections, which was welcomed by India with whom he pledged to restart the peace process.
During the campaign, 63-year-old Sharif had vowed to revive the Indo-Pak peace process which was interrupted in 1999 by the then military ruler Parvez Musharraf who ousted him in a bloodless coup. Sharif had started the peace process with then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulated Sharif for his "emphatic victory" in the elections.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid welcomed the outcome of elections in Pakistan and hoped India will continue to have good relations under Sharif's leadership.
Counting of votes was progressing at a slow pace with trends indicating that Sharif may marginally fall short of absolute majority but will be able to make it up by getting the support of independent candidates and smaller rightist parties like the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam which was ahead in 11 seats.
Trends from 264 of the 272 parliamentary seats that went to the polls yesterday showed that the PML-N was set to bag in excess of 125 seats. Sharif needs 137 seats for a majority.
