Khan calls on PTI-backed MPs to seek out coalition to lead Pakistan

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan yesterday called on independent MPs backed by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party to join the Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen party to form a government after inconclusive elections.

Khan’s PTI party was banned from taking part in last week’s poll and he was barred from standing in elections while he serves a jail sentence. But proKhan independents won 93 out of 266 seats contested in the National Assembly.

That gave the pro-Khan group more seats than the parties that ousted Khan from office two years ago. The PTI media team told The National it would form an alliance with the MWM in Punjab province and on a national level, while also teaming up with the Jamaat-e-Islami party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“Both parties are respectable parties,” PTI spokesman Zulfikar Bukhari told The National. “We had a seat adjustment with MWM and we have always maintained good relationships with Jamaat-e-Islami.

“So, we have decided to merge with them in order to form a united government in KP and go into parliament as a merged party.”

Khan has ruled out forming a coalition with any of the country’s other major parties. The PTI’s main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, secured 75 seats in the elections, the most among the country’s parties.

Mr Sharif’s brother, former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, president of the PML-N, said pro-Khan independents were welcome to try to form a government if they could prove they held a majority.

Pakistan’s system means a simple majority can be achieved with 169 of the 336 seats in the National Assembly. Only 266 of the 336 seats are contested directly in elections – the remaining 70 are reserved, with 60 for women and 10 for religious minorities.

Those seats are allocated to political parties based on proportional representation of the 266 elected seats. Under the rules, they cannot be allocated to independent candidates.

Independent candidates can join a party up to three days after the country’s Election Commission officially declares the result. Pro-Khan independents may now seek to merge with the MWM, a party that advocates for the rights of Shiites in the country, to qualify to secure a share of the reserved seats.

The MWM won a single seat in the elections.

If pro-Khan independents are unable to prove they have a majority, the PML-N will lead coalition talks to form a government, Shehbaz Sharif said.

The PML-N is holding coalition talks with the Pakistan People’s Party, which came third with 54 seats. The two parties led the coalition that ousted Khan in 2022. The PPP is led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Negotiations have faltered over who would be prime minister.

Pakistan’s system means a simple majority can be achieved with 169 of the 336 seats in the National Assembly