ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's prime minister designate, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, is a veteran lawmaker and close ally of Nawaz Sharif, who nominated him for the country's top political post after the Supreme Court disqualified Sharif on allegations of corruption.

Abbasi, 58, has been elected six times to Pakistan's National Assembly or powerful Lower House of Parliament.

He was first elected to Parliament in 1988 from the mountain resort area of Murree in Pakistan's largest province of Punjab, where 60 percent of Pakistan's 200 million people live.

He has served in a variety of Cabinet positions. Most recently he was Petroleum Minister in Sharif's Cabinet until Friday's Supreme Court decision disqualified Sharif and forced the selection of a replacement.