Pakistan court dismisses graft case against Imran Khan

Few observers of Pakistan's volatile politics are willing to predict with any certainty who will take the election, however.

Sharif swiftly installed party loyalist Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as prime minister after the court sacked him in late July following a corruption investigation spurred by the Panama Papers leak.

But Abbasi is widely seen as a placeholder as Sharif himself has refused to relinquish leadership of the party, despite being barred from contesting elections, leaving the PML-N floundering.

Its weakness was brutally exposed last month when it was forced to capitulate to the demands of small and previously unknown Islamist group that had held a weeks-long sit-in in the capital to demand the resignation of the federal law minister over claims linked to blasphemy.

Pakistan's third major party, the once-mighty Pakistan Peoples Party, has seen its fortunes plunge since its leader and the country's first female prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated a decade ago on December 27, 2007.

Her son 29-year-old son Bilawal, now chairman of the party, is trying to revive its political fortunes but few are gambling on it regaining its previous status in time for the polls.