Left: PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, Right: PPP co-chair Bilawal Bhutto
A coalition including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have agreed to form the next government of Pakistan, ensuring that the party of former PM Imran Khan will not take power despite getting the greatest number of votes in the election.
At a press conference in Islamabad on February 13, 2024, it was confirmed that the rival parties had agreed with two smaller coalition partners to forma joint government to take Pakistan out of difficulty and that PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif, would be the sole nominee for Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Imran Khan’s Tehreek-i-Insaaf party hit out at the coalition calling them as mandate thieves. The announcement followed days after wrangling and political horse trading after Pakistan elections last week dramatically delivered the most votes, but not enough for a majority to the PTI despite military opposition and state led crack down.
It was expected that the election would deliver an easy victory to the PML-N and its leader, three times former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after he was given the tacit backing of Pakistan’s powerful military who have a documented history of shaping election outcomes. But a landslide of support gave the PTI a greater number of parliamentary seats in what was seen as humiliation for Nawaz Sharif.
The PTI pledged to form a government but faced numerous obstacles including its candidates being forced to run as independents and Khan its leader an choice of Prime Minister serving multiple jail sentences of more than 10 years. The party has alleged that widespread rigging of the elections deprived them of dozens of parliamentary seats. In a message from prison from February 13, 2024, Khan warned other parties against the misadventure of forming a government with stolen votes.
At the press conference it was confirmed that Nawaz Sharif’s younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, who previously served as PM for 16 months between 2022 and 2023 would once again take up the role as he is nominated by the coalition uncontested.
Asif Ali Zardari, the chair of the PPP said to reporters “Looking at everything we have thought and decided to sit together We have contested elections against each other, but despite that it was not necessary forever. Oppositions happen in elections. It was electioneering opposition and not ideological opposition.
Zardari will be the nominee for the role of President, but the PPP said they will not be taking any ministries in the coalition government which will be occupied by PML-N figures and smaller coalition partners. It is understood that Bilawal Bhutto, Zardari’s son and co-chair of the PPP, was resistant to the party being too closely aligned with coalition government given the widespread support for PTI among masses and unpopularity of the PML-N.
Shahbaz Sharif said he was thankful to Zardari and Bilawal that they decided to for their party to vote for the PML-N and added, “Today we have united to tell the nation that we accept the split mandate. The coalition is similar to the Pakistan Democratic Movement which came together in 2020 with a singular purpose of ousting Khan from office.
After Imran Khan was removed from power, in April 2022, the coalition ruled with Shahbaz Sharif as PM, but it was largely unpopular because of its failure to bring the country ‘s economic crises under control. Shahbaz Sharif pledged revolutionary steps to bring down the country out of its economic crisis.
Nonetheless, the new coalition government will take power under a cloud of public distrust and questions of legitimacy given the high numbers who turned out to vote for Khan and PTI and against parties that were seen as having enabled military interference in politics.
PTI and other smaller parties have accused PML-N and PPP candidates of benefiting from alleged rampant vote-rigging and electoral interference, which had drawn condemnation from the US, UK and EU. More than a dozen cases have been taken to the courts to challenge results given to both parties. The electoral commission has denied any irregularities in the polls.
The coalition also reaffirmed the continued dominance of Pakistan’s two powerful dynasties, the Bhuttos and Sharifs over thr country’s politics. Nawaz Sharif daughter Maryam Nawaz was announced as the chief minister of the Punjab province, a key political position.
The PTI leadership pledged that party candidates would form the opposition if they were not invited to form the government, making it clear they would refuse any offer of a coalition from PML-N or PPP. In addition to Khan, dozens of PTI’s senior leadership figures are behind bars in cases they allege are politically motivated. Zardari called on PTI to join in a “reconciliation”, adding: “It should, and every other political force should, come and talk with us. Our economic and defence agenda should be common.”
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