After the recent election in Pakistan, a coalition comprising the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has come together to form the next government. This development ensures that Imran Khan’s party, which won most votes, will not retain power.
The coalition partners have agreed to form a government with the two smaller partners to tackle Pakistan’s challenging economic and political situation. The coalition agreement was signed after several PML-N and PPP leadership negotiations. Under the agreement, PML-N’s President Shehbaz Sharif has agreed to be the sole candidate for the position of Prime Minister.
The coalition has also agreed to work together to address the country’s various challenges, including the economic, energy, and security crises. They have promised to take urgent action to stabilise the economy, create jobs, and address the energy crisis by increasing power generation capacity and reducing reliance on imported energy.
The PPP and PML-N have previously been political rivals, and the agreement to form a coalition government is seen as a significant development in Pakistan’s political landscape. How the coalition will work in practice remains to be noticed. Still, these rival parties have come together to form a government, a positive sign for Pakistan’s democracy and governance.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party called the coalition government “thieves of the mandate”.
After Pakistan’s election last week, the PTI won the majority of the vote despite military opposition and a state-led crackdown. This caused controversy for several days. Initially, it was expected that the PML-N party and its leader, Nawaz Sharif, would secure an easy victory in the elections as they had the tacit support of Pakistan’s powerful military, which has the power to influence the election results. However, the PTI party was given much support in the general election and awarded the highest number of parliamentary seats, which was seen as an insult to Nawaz Sharif.
Imran Khan is in jail for ten years
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has committed to establish a government. However, it has encountered several obstacles, including its nominees being compelled to compete as independents and its leader, Imran Khan, serving over ten years in prison. The PTI has also claimed that they lost several parliamentary seats due to election corruption. In a statement from jail on Tuesday, Khan stated that “forming a government with stolen votes is a despicable act.”
Family politics
Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, who served as Prime Minister for 16 months from 2022 to 2023, will once again assume the role. He is expected to be nominated unopposed by the coalition. Asif Ali Zardari, the Co-Chairman of the PPP, informed reporters that they have agreed to form a coalition government that will focus on all sectors.
Zardari will be nominated for the presidency. But the PPP party said
He stated that he would not accept any portfolio in the coalition government if it is occupied by smaller coalition parties such as PML-N.
The coalition is similar to the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which came together in 2020 to remove Khan from office. After Khan’s removal in April 2022, Shehbaz Sharif served as the country’s prime minister, but his inability to handle the country’s economic crisis made him unpopular.
Shehbaz Sharif pledged to take “revolutionary measures” to pull the country out of the economic crisis. Nevertheless, the new coalition government will take power amid public mistrust and questions of legitimacy in the country, where many people have voted against these parties that have carried out military interventions against Khan and the PTI.
How long will the coalition government last?
There have been accusations of vote rigging and election interference benefiting the PML-N and PPP parties, made by smaller political parties like the PTI. The United States, United Kingdom, and European Union have condemned these actions. Many cases have been presented to the courts challenging the election results of both parties, but the Election Commission claims that the polling was conducted without any irregularities.
After the coalition of the PML-N and PPP, the two most powerful political dynasties in Pakistan, regained their political dominance, Maryam Nawaz, daughter of Nawaz Sharif, was appointed as the chief minister of Punjab province, which is a significant political position.
If the PTI is not invited to form the government, the party’s leadership has promised to form an opposition, stating that they will reject the PML-N and PPP coalition. Additionally, many high-ranking PTI leaders are currently in jail on political charges.
PPP co-chairman Zardari has asked the PTI to unite in “reconciliation”.
