Mr. Sharif heads the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the rival to Mr. Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party.
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On this front, Mr. Sharif's party the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or PML-N says it has shown it can deliver.
Pakistan's two largest parties, the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) are currently leaderless.
Another 23 percent chose Nawaz Sharif, a former Pakistani prime minister and head of the Pakistan Muslim League-N party.
Mr Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League, this week petitioned the Supreme Court to rule that the coup was illegal.
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Unofficial results suggest that the Pakistan Muslim League led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will secure a majority in parliament.
He decorated his wedding car with flowers and a stuffed tiger, the symbol of the Pakistan Muslim League-N party he supports.
One has held positions of leadership with the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), which was set up by the former dictator Pervez Musharraf.
The party under most pressure is Punjab's dominant force, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), run by a former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.
They have succeeded in fragmenting the Pakistan Muslim League, led by Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister that the general toppled and later expelled.
Police in the Pujabi capital, Lahore, have torn down opposition "electoral symbols" and have erected banners and posters supporting the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.
The PPP's main contender is the Pakistan Muslim League-N, headed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who spent years living in exile Saudi Arabia.
Even his own party, the Pakistan Muslim League, seemed fed up.
His party has dented the two-party system long dominated by the Pakistan Muslim League-N and the outgoing Pakistan People's Party and could steal votes from both.
While pundits and newspapers congratulate the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) chief for an impressive performance, they also highlight the economy, foreign relations and militancy as key issues.
Last week he ordered the arrest of Javed Hashmi, the acting head of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), whose real leader, a former prime minister, lives in exile.
"We still want this problem of terrorism to be solved through talks, " said Khurram Dastagir, re-elected a member of parliament for Mr. Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz.
In desperation the provincial government, which is run by the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) of Nawaz Sharif, the main opposition leader, has tried to outsource its reconstruction efforts altogether.
In a cruelly opportunist move, the Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister, now a popular opposition leader, took up cudgels against the American aid bill.
Early in the morning of July 8th, police blocked the roads leading to the Sharif family home in Lahore and detained members of Mr Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League.
His party's rise coincides with a slump for the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, which pollsters now say barely commands 10% support, and the collapse of a rival in Punjab, the Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam).
It means that both the PPP and, especially, the other main party, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), led by Nawaz Sharif, have a bank of religious-minded voters whom they must be careful not to offend.
In particular, the president's political allies in the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) party, would then be expected to rejoin Mr Sharif's party whence Mr Musharraf plucked them, after he toppled Mr Sharif in a 1999 coup.
Though the new government, elected through the May 11 polls, won't be in place, Mr. Li will meet prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif, who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the rival to Mr. Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party.
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Still, it wasn't clear whether this surge would derail the front-runner in the election, the Pakistan Muslim League of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who hopes to form the next government of the world's fifth-largest democracy.
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Mr Chaudhry and 13 colleagues were restored to the supreme court by President Zardari following a prolonged protest led by lawyers and the opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister.
Though the new government, elected through the May 11 polls, will not be in place, Mr. Li will meet prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif, who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the rival to Mr. Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party.
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The two main ones are family assets the Bhuttos own the PPP, and the Sharifs (Nawaz Sharif, the former and probably future prime minister, and his brother Shahbaz, chief minister of Punjab) own the Pakistan Muslim League (N).
Musharraf's party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam (PML-Q), conceded defeat and the main opposition parties -- PPP and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) - together emerged with a majority in the 342-member lower house of the National Assembly (NA).
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