Pak’s majority parties struggle to form alliance
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s two major parties are set to meet on Monday to try and bridge differences over forming a minority coalition government after an inconclusive election, a top party official said, underscoring political and economic instability.
Analysts say the nucleararmed nation of 241 million, which has been grappling with an economic crisis amid slow growth and record inflation, along with rising militant violence, needs a stable government with the authority to take tough decisions.
Monday’s talks will be the fifth such round after former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif was named by his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party to lead the country again.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) party of former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari revealed that he said “No” to a power-sharing formula in which the prime minister’s post would be shared between his and former premier Nawaz Sharif’s parties, as he did not want to take up the top post without the people’s mandate.
Addressing a Yaum-i-Tashakur (Thanksgiving Day) rally in Thatta to celebrate the PPP’s election victory in Sindh province, Bilawal said, “I was told [by PML-N] that let us be the prime minister for three years and then you can take the premiership for the remaining two years.”
“I said no to this. I said I do not want to be a prime minister like this,” he said.
Sharif, 72, who was prime minister of the South Asian nation for 16 months until August, has been named the coalition’s candidate to be the next premier by his elder brother, Nawaz Sharif, who is the PML-N chief.
Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party members that won seats in the elections will join the minority Sunni Ittehad Political Party to form a government, the party’s interim chief, Barrister Gohar Khan said at a news briefing on Monday.
Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won the most number of seats in the elections as independents after the party was barred from contesting.
The interim chief said that the decision to have the PTI-backed independent candidates join another party was made so that the party could have access to the reserved seats allocated for women and minorities.
Pakistan narrowly averted a sovereign default last summer with a $3-billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund, but the lender’s support ends in March, after which a new, extended programme will be needed.
Negotiating a new programme, and at speed, will be critical for the new government.
The new government could also face further political tension, with independent members of parliament, backed by jailed former premier Imran Khan, forming the largest group in the legislature.
This group is at loggerheads with the powerful military and alleges that the vote was rigged.
The caretaker government and election commission have rejected those accusations.