PPP, PML-N reach formal agreement to form next government in Pakistan

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) reached a ‘power-sharing formula’ after days of negotiations.

“PPP and PML-N have achieved the required number and [now] we are in a position to form the government in Centre,” PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was quoted as saying by ARY News while addressing a joint press conference at Zardari House in Islamabad.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said former PM Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed candidates and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) could not touch the simple majority needed to form the government in the country which is battling an acute financial crisis.

Bhutto said PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif will be the next PM of the nation while the political outfit will back his father Asif Ali Zardari for the president’s slot.

“Asif Zardari would be our joint candidate for president,” he was quoted as saying by ARY News.

Shehbaz Sharif said the journey for the next government would not be easy.

PTI terms coalition as mandate thieves

Imran Khan's PTI called the new coalition 'mandate thieves'.

"Unprecedented electoral fraud by the illegitimate regime, which stole PTI’s two-thirds majority mandate. A documentary showing what happened during and after the elections," PTI posted on X.

"It’s crystal clear that PDM = Mandate Thieves," the party posted.

Imran Khan was ousted from power in 2022.

Khan was behind bars on the day of the polls and his members fought as independent candidates.

In the shock results, candidates backed by PTI emerged as the single largest bloc.

However, with 92 seats bagged, PTI could not touch the majority of 169 needed to form the government.

It paved the way for PML-N, which is led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to discuss with PPP the possibility of forming the next government.

PML-N emerged second with 79 seats while PPP bagged 54.