PAKISTAN’S PML-N AND PPP STRIKE DEAL ON COALITION GOVERNMENT

▶ Shehbaz Sharif set to be prime minister, ending almost two weeks of wrangling since election

The Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz and Pakistan People’s Party have confirmed reaching a deal to form a coalition government, after nearly two weeks of talks following the February 8 general election.

The parties said they had secured enough support from smaller parties to form the government, and had agreed to nominate PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif for prime minister and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for the presidency.

“Both the parties have the numbers to form a government,” PPP co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari – the son of Mr Zardari and assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto – said late on Tuesday.

The agreement ends a period of political uncertainty after an inconclusive election in which independent candidates allied to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan secured the highest number of seats.

Candidates backed by Khan won 92 seats in the National Assembly – the lower house of parliament – while the PML-N won 79 seats and the PPP 54.

Khan was unable to stand for election after receiving jail terms in a number of cases, while his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party was effectively barred from fielding candidates after the election commission banned it from using its election symbol.

Under the power-sharing deal, the PML-N will get the offices of prime minister, parliamentary speaker and chief minister of the Punjab provincial government. It will also nominate the governors of Sindh and Balochistan provinces.

The PPP is given the offices of president, Senate chairman, deputy parliamentary speaker and Balochistan chief minister, and will nominate the governors of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It declined to accept any cabinet posts in the federal government. Mr Sharif served as prime minister from early 2022 until August last year, after Khan was ousted in a noconfidence vote.

He is the brother of threetime prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who led the PML-N campaign after returning from self-imposed exile. Mr Zardari previously served as president from 2008 to 2013.

This will be the third time that the two parties have joined forces to govern Pakistan. They first formed a coalition government after elections in 2008, and again in 2022.

PML-N secretary general Ahsan Iqbal said their past association would ensure that the new government worked smoothly to tackle the country’s problems – including an economic crisis that has pushed inflation up to about 30 per cent. “The PML-N and PPP have already developed a working relationship as they had formed the government soon after ousting Imran Khan,” Mr Iqbal said.

“Among major issues facing the government, economic stabilisation is a big one. I believe that through mutual support, the government will fare better.”

Mr Sharif said Pakistan is facing “a journey of blood, sweat and sacrifice” as it is currently getting by on loans. “We will have to end this, but it’s easier said than done,” Mr Sharif said.

PPP information secretary Amjad Afridi said the party had a track record of helping ordinary working people.

“Our party leadership has already declared that if we formed a government, salaries of employees would double,” Mr Afridi told

This ends uncertainty, after independents allied to former prime minister Imran Khan won the highest number of seats