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 its political and economic instability.
Analysts say the nuclear-armed 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 make 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.
"Both the parties haven't yet agreed on final points," Ishaq Dar, a senator of Sharif's party, who is leading it in the talks, said in a statement on Sunday posted on social media platform X. "Negotiations are underway on various proposals" for power sharing, he added.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) party of former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has announced conditional support for the PML-N, saying it will vote for Sharif to form the government, but would not take positions in cabinet.
"I can confirm that it has been decided in principle that the political parties will form a coalition government," Dar told domestic broadcaster Geo TV.
Sharif, 72, who was prime minister of the south Asian nation for 16 months until August, has been named as the coalition's candidate to be the next premier by his elder brother, Nawaz Sharif, who is the PML-N chief.
Meanwhile, at a political rally in Sindh, PPP Chairman Bhutto said he had rejected a formula in which PML-N and PPP were to share the prime minister's post by rotation.
Addressing a Yaum-i-Tashakur (Thanksgiving Day) rally in Thatta to celebrate the PPP's election victory in Sindh province, 35-year-old 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. “If I become the prime minister, it would be after the people of Pakistan elect me.”
Bilawal also said his father Asif Ali Zardari would be the PPP's candidate for president, insisting that the former president would play his role to defuse political tension.
Imran's PTI pact with Sunni party
Independent candidates backed by Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan who won seats in inconclusive elections over 10 days ago will join the minority Sunni Ittehad Council Political Party to form a government, the party's interim chief said on Monday.
The interim chief, Barrister Gohar Khan, said at a news briefing the decision to join the minority party was so that former PM Imran Khan's party, the Tehreek-e-Insaf, which was barred from contesting the election, could access reserved seats in the national assembly.
Parties are allocated 70 reserved seats - 60 for women, 10 for non-Muslims - in proportion to the number of seats won. This completes the National Assembly's total 336 seats. Independents are not eligible for reserved seats.
During the press conference, the leader of the Sunni Ittehad Council Political Party said it had signed a memorandum with the PTI and all direction would come from the PTI and jailed leader Khan.
Poll results suspended
A Pakistan high court on Monday suspended the results of three constituencies in Islamabad after the success of the three candidates was challenged.
The three losing candidates including Amir Mughal, Shoaib Shaheen and Mohammad Ali Bukhari, who were backed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, had petitioned in the Islamabad High Court, alleging manipulation of the results.
The IHC after hearing the case suspended poll result notifications issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from NA-46, NA-47 and NA-48, putting on hold the success of Anjum Aqeel Khan, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and Raja Khurram Nawaz who had won respectively on the three seats.
Khan and Chaudhry won on the tickets of PML-N while Nawaz won as an independent candidate, who was not backed by PTI, and joined the PML-N after his victory.
IMF bailout
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.
Pakistan's sovereign dollar bonds fell as much as 1.2 cents on Monday, with the 2024 bond standing at 95.89 cents in the aftermath of the contentious election, Tradeweb data showed.
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. (Agencies)
India's aviation investigative unit said the probe was "progressing steadily" (PTI photo)