Finally, Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s PPP strike a new coalition government agreement in Pakistan

Following days of rigorous discussions, leading party leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party have finally agreed to create a new coalition government.

At a joint press conference held late on Tuesday night, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, 72, is scheduled to take on the position of prime minister once more, according to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. Asif Zardari, the 68-year-old co-chairman of the PPP, is expected to win the presidency again at the same time.

“The PPP and PML-N have achieved the required number, and [now] we are in a position to form the government,” Bilawal told the press.

He said that the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and candidates supported by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party were unable to secure a simple majority in Parliament in order to establish government in the Center.

As the cash-strapped nation faced a hung Parliament after the February 8 elections, Bilawal believed that the announcement of the political partnership with the PML-N to form a coalition government would prompt a good reaction from the market.

Ninety-three National Assembly seats went to independent candidates, most of whom were supported by the 71-year-old Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

Speaking at the event, Shehbaz Sharif praised the leaders of the two parties for the successful outcome of the negotiations and said that his PML-N now has the “required numbers” with the PPP to be in a position to form the next government.

According to The Express Tribune newspaper, the former prime minister emphasized the two parties’ unity and said that they were in a strong position to establish the government at the center.

The PPP secured 54 seats, placing third, behind the PML-N’s 75 seats. Additionally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has promised to provide them its 17 seats of support.

A party has to win 133 of the 265 contested seats in the lower house of Parliament, or the 266-member National Assembly, in order to form a government.

In the meanwhile, 71-year-old Khan’s PTI attacked the recently formed PPP, PML-N coalition as “PDM 2.0” in a post on X, writing, “PDM 2.0 = #MandateThieves.” The partnership was announced the day after the most recent round of negotiations between the two parties’ senior leaders came to an impasse on Monday, with neither side being able to agree on a formula for power-sharing to establish a coalition government.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who led the country from 2022 to 2023, predicted that the incoming administration will face several challenges and roadblocks on its path to power. According to the Dawn newspaper, he said that the coalition partnership would address them collectively.

Zardari, a co-chair of the PPP and a former president from 2008 to 2013, has said that the nation and future generations are the reasons for the political alliance’s battle to form the next administration.

There have been many credible claims of extensive election tampering to change the outcomes, making the general elections on February 8 contentious.

Aleema Khan, Imran Khan’s sister, said that the PTI leader referred to the February 8 elections as the “mother of all rigging”.

On Tuesday, Aleema saw Imran Khan in Adiala Jail. After the elections, she told reporters, the people’s mandate was “stolen”. She said that Imran Khan, who alleged the internet service outage was a ploy to “hide the real results,” had harshly denounced it.