Pakistan People's Party and PML-N sign deal to form coalition government; Shehbaz Sharif becomes Prime Minister
This coalition agreement comes after candidates backed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) failed to win a simple majority in the elections.
Islamabad: Pakistan's two main political parties, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP), have finally reached an agreement to form a coalition government at Centre. “Both parties have agreed on a power-sharing formula as we have the required number of seats in the National Assembly (NA) to form the government,” PML-N president and former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said at a joint meeting on Tuesday evening . press conference in Islamabad.
After days of negotiations between the two parties, it has been decided that Sharif will be the joint candidate for both parties for the post of prime minister and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari will be the joint candidate for the post of the president, Xinhua news agency reported.
Bhutto-Zardari said: “The PPP and PML-N have reached the required number, and 1708482822 we are in a position to form the government,” Geo News reported.
During his speech, Shehbaz Sharif claimed that his PML-N now has the “required numbers” with the PPP to be in a position to form the next government, while thanking the leadership of the two parties for the positive conclusion of the talks .
The former Prime Minister highlighted the unity between the two parties and noted that they were well positioned to form the government at the Centre, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
This coalition agreement comes after candidates backed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) failed to win a simple majority in the elections.
Earlier, Pakistan's Election Commission announced the results of 265 of the 266 seats for the National Assembly after the country held general elections on February 8 to elect a government for the next five-year term, with no political party obtained a simple majority. forcing parties to make alliances to form the government at Centre.
The PML-N won 75 seats, the PPP came third with 54 seats, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has agreed to support them with their 17 seats. With this coalition they want to jointly tackle the challenges that lie ahead.