International
PML-N, PPP agree on coalition minus Khan
n Shehbaz Sharif again nominated for premiershipn Bilawal wants presidency for dad once moren PTI to go to court alleging widespread rigging
February 14, 2024 | 12:20 AM
Pakistan’s two main political parties that joined forces to controversially oust Imran Khan as prime minister in 2022 said yesterday they would form a new coalition to rule the country, after an election last week failed to produce a decisive winner.With the army-backed Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) short of votes to win a ruling majority, it said it was partnering with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) as well as a handful of smaller parties to form the next government.Loyalists of Khan, jailed on corruption charges, won the most seats as independent candidates in Thursday’s election.Shehbaz Sharif belongs to his brother’s Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N), the largest recognised party with 80 seats and PPP is second with 54. Together, the two parties have enough for a simple majority in the 264-seat legislature."The parties present here are almost two-thirds of the house that has been elected," said Shehbaz Sharif, president of the PML-N, alongside leaders of the PPP and two other groups.He said they were even willing to talk to Khan to include the PTI in the next government."Forget and forgive; forgive and forget — come let’s join hands for the betterment of the country," he said."Sacrifice self-interests, set the issue of egos aside."The press conference followed a hectic day of behind-the-scenes negotiations and even denials by PPP that they were ready to join forces with PML-N.Earlier, speaking during a court appearance at Adiala Jail where he has spent much of his time since his arrest in August, Khan ruled out joining his nemesis."We will neither sit with the PML-N nor with the PPP," he told a handful of reporters covering a procedural hearing at the prison outside the capital Islamabad.The press conference by PML-N and PPP left a lot of unanswered questions about who would fill key positions in the next government, and made clear there was still much negotiation to be done.Sharif, who served as prime minister in the last government before the National Assembly — upper house of Pakistan’s bicameral legislature — was dissolved, has said he wanted his older brother, three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, to return to office.But PML-N’s main spokesperson, Marriyum Aurangzeb, said later on X that the younger Sharif would lead the country."We have decided today that we will get together and form the government to lift Pakistan from difficulty," Asif Ali Zardari, PPP co-chairman and former Pakistan president told the press conference.Candidates loyal to Khan took most of the seats in the polls, defying a months-long brutal military-backed crackdown that crippled campaigning and forced them to run as independents.But despite independents winning 101 National Assembly seats, a government can only be formed by a recognised party, or coalition of parties, so they would have to join another group to become an effective bloc.There were widespread allegations of vote-rigging and result manipulations after authorities switched off the nation’s mobile phone network on Election Day, ostensibly on security grounds, and the count took more than 24 hours."We are going to challenge the election rigging in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and we will consider the alliance later," Khan said yesterday.Earlier, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of Zardari and assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, said he would like to see his father become president again."And I am not saying this because he is my father. I am saying this because the country is in a huge crisis at the moment and if anyone has the capacity to douse this fire, it is Asif Ali Zardari," he said.TV channel Geo News also cited PPP sources as saying the party wanted its appointees to take the governor post in all four provinces.Bilawal said Khan’s independents and PML-N had more numbers than his party but Khan had ruled out joining forces with the PPP.The PPP does not want a perpetual economic crisis or a fresh election leading to a political crisis in Pakistan, Bilawal said.The conditions to join forces did not bode well for a stable or strong administration in the world’s second-largest Muslim country.However, the alliance has ended uncertainty over government formation for now, five days after the February 8 vote gave a split verdict and sparked worries of fresh instability.Shehbaz welcomed the support from the PPP and other parties and said all the parties had come together because they needed to tackle numerous challenges, particularly the economy.The country of 241mn people is grappling with an economic crisis amid slow growth and record inflation, along with rising militant violence.It narrowly averted a sovereign default last summer with a $3bn bailout from the International Monetary Fund, but the lender’s support ends in March, following which a new, extended programme will be needed.Negotiating a new programme, and at speed, will be critical for the new government.Analysts had hoped the election would bring a solution to the crises faced by Pakistan, but the split verdict, with a large number of independents at loggerheads with the influential military, could only mean more instability.
February 14, 2024 | 12:20 AM