ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party have finally agreed on a power-sharing deal to form a coalition Government led by former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a move that could effectively sideline their arch-rival, Imran Khan.
Both the PML-N and the PPP won fewer seats in Parliament than candidates backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan in an election mired in controversies, including vote rigging. Khan, who could not contest the February 8 elections due to his convictions in some cases including that of corruption has been barred from holding any public office for 10 years.
At a joint news conference here late Tuesday night after marathon negotiations, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari announced that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif, 72, will assume the role of the prime minister once again.
Similarly, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, 68, will be the joint candidate for the president’s office.
Last week, the PML-N, in a surprise move, announced that the party supremo and three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif nominated his younger brother Shehbaz as a candidate for the slot of prime minister. Nawaz, 74, was earlier confident of securing a record fourth term. However, his party failed to win enough seats to form a government on its own.
“The PPP and PML-N have achieved the required number, and (now) we are in a position to form the government,” Bilawal told reporters without revealing the number of lawmakers they have in the National Assembly after the February 8 elections.
To form a government, a party must win 133 out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly or the lower house of Parliament.
He said former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party-backed independent candidates and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) failed to achieve a simple majority in Parliament to form a government in the Centre.
Bilawal hoped that the news of the political alliance with the PML-N to form a coalition government would lead to a positive market response as the cash-strapped country faced a hung Parliament after the elections.
Independent candidates – a majority backed by 71-year-old Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party — won 93 National Assembly seats.
The PML-N won 75 seats while the PPP came third with 54 seats. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has 17 seats.
