[JURIST] A Pakistani court Monday blocked Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) [party website] head and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif [BBC profile] from running for parliament, finding that a prior criminal conviction rendered him ineligible for office. Earlier this month, the Election Commission of Pakistan [official website] cleared [JURIST report] Sharif and his younger brother to run in the June 26 by-elections after a local election tribunal was unable to reach a unanimous decision [Daily Times report] about Sharif's candidacy. AP has more. A Pakistan News has local coverage.

In 2000, Sharif was convicted for his involvement in an attempt to prevent a plane carrying then-army-chief and current President Pervez Musharraf [JURIST news archive] from landing in Pakistan during Musharraf's 1999 coup against Sharif's civilian government. Last year, the ECP ruled that Sharif could not run as a candidate [JURIST report] in February elections because of the 2000 criminal conviction.