KEY POINTS
  • Pakistan's ruling PML-N party will appoint Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the interim prime minister.
  • Abbasi will replace ousted leader Nawaz Sharif.
  • Sharif's brother Shahbaz is seen as the long-term successor.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is expected to be the interim prime minister of Pakistan.
Farooq Naeem | AFP | Getty Images

Pakistan's ruling PML-N party will appoint Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the interim prime minister to replace ousted leader Nawaz Sharif, two sources close to Sharif said on Saturday, with Sharif's brother Shahbaz chosen as the long-term successor.

A senior PML-N official close to Sharif said Abbasi, 58, will be announced as the interim leader "in an hour" by the party. Abbasi, minister for petroleum and natural resources in Sharif's cabinet,
will be the leader until Shahbaz contests a parliamentary seat and becomes eligible to take over.