ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan’s two main political parties that joined forces to oust Imran Khan as prime minister in 2022 said on Tuesday 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 Peoples 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.
“The parties present here are almost two-thirds of the house that has been elected,” said President of the PML-N Shehbaz Sharif alongside leaders of the PPP and two other groups, and representatives from two more.
After the press conference, an aide said Sharif would lead the country.
“The PML-N’s candidate for prime minister is Shehbaz Sharif,” party spokeswoman Marriyum Aurangzeb told Geo News.
Sharif said the PML-N was even willing to talk to Khan to include his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party 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 cooperation.
“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 negotiating to be done.
