A post-poll agreement has been reached between major political parties in Pakistan, after which Shehbaz Sharif, younger brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, can be the next Prime Minister.
The move means that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will not be able to come to power despite independent candidates backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party getting more seats in Parliament. There was a fractured mandate in the elections held in the country on February 8 and there were allegations of rigging in the elections.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday night named 72-year-old Shehbaz as its prime ministerial candidate instead of party chief and three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Nawaz Sharif, 74, was seeking to become prime minister for a record fourth time and returned to Pakistan in October last year after ending self-exile in Britain.
Earlier, Shehbaz Sharif along with Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) met Shujaat Hussain of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) on Tuesday night. Met and agreed on government formation.
Expressing gratitude to other leaders present at the meeting, Sharif said, “Today we have come together to tell the country that we have accepted a fractured mandate. I am grateful to Zardari and Bilawal (Bhutto) that they have decided to support Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).”
PML-N Information Secretary Maryam Aurangzeb said that party chief Nawaz Sharif has nominated the party president and his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif (72) for the post of Prime Minister of the country.
He said that Maryam Nawaz, senior vice president of PML-N and considered the political successor of Nawaz Sharif, has been nominated for the post of Chief Minister of Punjab. “Nawaz Sharif expressed his gratitude to the political parties that have supported PML-N in forming the upcoming government and expressed hope that such decisions will bring Pakistan out of the crisis,” the party’s information secretary said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had said that he was withdrawing his bid to become the Prime Minister and his party would support the PML-N candidate for the post. Shahbaz, who will become Prime Minister after ousting the Imran Khan-led government from power in April 2022, said other parties have joined hands with the PML-N which has “almost two-thirds majority” in Parliament after the elections.
He also said that the new government will bring the country out of the crisis. Hours after Nawaz Sharif nominated Shehbaz for the post of prime minister, his daughter Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday tried to refute the perception that her father has left active politics. “In the next five years, Nawaz will not only participate in active politics but will also oversee the PML-N-led governments in Punjab and the Centre,” Maryam Nawaz said in a post on social media platform ‘X’.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, the total number of seats won by six parties – PML-N, PPP, MQM-P, PML-Q, IPP (Istiqam-e-Pakistan Party) and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) is 152. All of them have announced their plans to form a coalition government under the leadership of Shehbaz Sharif.
It is clearly visible that after getting additional 60 women and 10 minority seats, these parties will easily achieve the required figure of 169 to form the government at the Centre. PML-N is believed to have the support of the army.
Reacting to the latest political developments, jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said the best option for the PML-N is to “accept its defeat graciously” and its party founder Imran Khan has to “allow the country to come out of the crisis.”
Cricketer-turned-politician Khan, 71, is currently in jail and was barred from contesting elections due to his conviction in corruption cases. Earlier, top PPP leader and former Pakistan President Zardari had said in the presence of Shehbaz that a coalition government would be formed.
He said, “We have decided to form a coalition government and take the country out of the economic crisis.” He said the new government will try to make peace with everyone, including Khan’s PTI. With the unity of major parties, a new government is likely to be formed by the end of this month. Speaking to reporters in the court for the first time after the voting, Khan said, “I warn against the audacity of forming a government with stolen votes.”
“Such broad daylight robberies are not only an insult to citizens, but will also send the country’s economy into a further downward spiral,” he said. Meanwhile, the Khan-led PTI decided to use the platform of the two right-wing religious parties to form its government in Islamabad as well as Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Party information secretary Rauf Hasan said, “PTI has decided to join hands with Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) and Jamaati-e-Islami (JI) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to form government at the Center and Punjab ”
It is believed that even by joining hands with both the parties, PTI will not get sufficient numerical strength to form the federal government or the provincial government in Punjab. By joining hands with both the parties, PTI will be able to claim share in 70 reserved seats in the National Assembly and 156 reserved seats in the four provincial assemblies.
Reserved seats are allotted to political parties on the basis of proportional representation. PTI-backed independent candidates are required to join any political party within three days of the official notification of election results being issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan, but the notification has not been issued yet. Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Wednesday that the elections were “rigged”. He refused to support the coalition government.