Former Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appears ready to return to power on Wednesday, after a coalition agreement between parties from the country's two major political dynasties which sidelines supporters of imprisoned former leader Imran Khan.
Candidates supported by Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had won the largest number of seats in the National Assembly in the February 8 parliamentary elections.
But following this agreement, they now find themselves excluded from power.
This alliance between Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) puts an end to two weeks of negotiations.
Both parties
“have reached the required number”
of seats
“and we will form a government
,” Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said at a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday evening.
According to this agreement, the PML-N, which came in second place, and the PPP will propose Shehbaz Sharif, prime minister from 2022 to 2023, as head of government, and former president Asif Ali Zardari (2008-2013), husband of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, for president.
“We hope that Shehbaz Sharif will soon become the Prime Minister of the country and all of Pakistan should pray for the success of the government
,” continued PPP's Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of the coalition's proposed president.
Shehbaz Sharif noted the difficult economic situation in the country during the same press conference.
“Seventy-six years after (independence), we find ourselves dependent on loans
,” he stressed.
“We are facing considerable challenges (...) We must get Pakistan out of these difficulties
. ”
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Suspicions of massive fraud
The coalition parties also agreed on ministerial portfolios, which should be announced in the coming days.
The elected deputies must sit for the first time on February 29, three weeks after the vote, the date on which the coalition must be approved.
Widespread allegations of manipulation tarnished the February 8 elections, with a mobile phone network suspended on polling day and a vote count taking more than 24 hours.
Imran Khan's party, which denounced massive fraud, claimed to have won enough seats to be able to govern.
The PTI on Wednesday spoke out against the coalition agreement, calling the rival parties
"mandate thieves"
.
“The PML-N and the People's Party deserve praise for their epic 30-year journey from stealing taxpayers' money to stealing elections together
,” the party said on social network X.
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Imran Khan imprisoned since August 2023
The two parties, led by two major political dynasties in the country, had already joined forces in 2022 to oust Imran Khan from power, with a vote of no confidence, then formed a coalition until the dissolution of the National Assembly in August before the elections.
Shehbaz Sharif's brother Nawaz, already a three-time prime minister, returned from exile in Pakistan to lead the election campaign, but failed to secure a majority, despite expectations.
Analysts consider him to have key support from the Pakistani military.
Imran Khan, former cricket legend, has been imprisoned since August, sentenced to long sentences for corruption, treason and illegal marriage.
He denounces these accusations as purely political and intended to remove him from power.
The still very popular politician was brought to power in 2018 by a young electorate, tired of the dynastic politics of the PML-N and the PPP, with apparently the blessing of the generals.
But his falling out with the army, according to analysts, precipitated his fall.
Declared ineligible before the legislative elections, he promoted an anti-establishment message despite his party being banned from campaigning.