ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s premier-designate and three opposition lawmakers have submitted their candidacies for the country’s next head of government.

Monday’s development comes ahead of Tuesday’s vote in parliament that will elect a successor to three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who was disqualified from office by the Supreme Court and who resigned last week.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a longtime Sharif loyalist nominated for the top slot, is almost certain to win the vote since the nation’s ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League, commands a comfortable majority in the house.

Abbasi was the party’s choice until Sharif’s younger brother — Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Punjab province — wins a national assembly seat in a by-election.

The Supreme Court disqualified Sharif following a probe that determined his family had concealed their assets.

The court also ordered a separate criminal investigation into Sharif and his family in its ruling, which Sharif’s allies have portrayed as political meddling but opposition leader Imran Khan has hailed as a victory for the rule of law.

Abassi on Monday stressed he would continue Sharif’s policies.

“Our party will succeed with our majority, God willing,” Abassi told reporters inside parliament after filing the official nomination papers.

“The policies we had until Friday, we will continue with that,” he added.

Sharif’s PML-N party won elections in 2013 and holds a majority of 188 seats in the 342-member parliament, so it should be able to swiftly install its choice of premier, barring defections from its own ranks.

Over the weekend Sharif said he was shocked by Friday’s Supreme Court ruling disqualifying him over unreported income from a company owned by his son in Dubai. Sharif said the monthly salary — equivalent to $2,722 — was nominal and he never actually received any of it.

Sharif’s two previous stints in power were also cut short, the second ending in a military coup led by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999.

Initially placed under house arrest, Sharif went into exile before returning to win a resounding victory in 2013 elections.

The Supreme Court employed the little-used Article 62 of the Constitution, which calls for the dismissal of any lawmaker deemed dishonest, to remove Sharif.

His allies believe the verdict smacks of judicial overreach. Others say privately that elements of the military had a hand in the process. — Agencies