[ad_1]
PML-N has not named a prime ministerial candidate (file)
islamabad:
Pakistan’s two major political parties were forced to work together to win a majority in the independent-dominated parliament supported by Imran Khan after last week’s inconclusive election results forced them to decide who will be prime minister. There is a dispute over who will take over the post.
The dispute is likely to deepen concerns about the stability of the nuclear-armed nation, which is mired in economic crisis and grappling with a surge in violence. Pakistan’s benchmark stock index fell 2.1% on Monday, the first day of trading following the results.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Party (PML-N), which won the second most seats after independents, and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said in a statement late on Sunday: Stated. Sons of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, they say they will “put the nation’s interests and welfare above all else” and are committed to “moving Pakistan away from political instability and putting it on a path to prosperity and resilience.” said.
A successful coalition between the two parties would reduce the influence of candidates supported by former Prime Minister Khan. Mr. Khan, a former prime minister who rebelled against the influential military and is currently jailed for corruption, won 93 of the 264 seats contested in the election. .
Analysts say some candidates from Mr Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have joined either party or launched small-scale campaigns to block either candidate. There is a possibility of forming a coalition with a political party. Many more former PTI members who failed to win seats are also contesting the results in court, potentially further disrupting coalition talks.
PTI declined to comment on the candidates’ plans.
However, officials from both the PML-N and PPP said talks over which party leader would take the top position have stalled.
A PML-N official close to Sharif told Reuters: “Both parties are interested in forming a coalition government, but so far there is no breakthrough. Both parties want the prime minister’s position.”
The PML-N has not named a candidate for prime minister, but officials say Nawaz Sharif, 74, who has served as prime minister three times in the past, and his brother Shehbaz, 72, who held the post for 18 months. ). Until August of last year.
The PPP has always maintained Bhutto Zardari as its political heir, and if successful, the 35-year-old former foreign minister would become Pakistan’s youngest prime minister since his mother Benazir’s tenure.
“Our party wants Bilawal as prime minister,” PPP leader Faisal Kareem Kundi told Geo TV, adding that independents have joined the party. “No one can form a government without us.”
To become prime minister, a candidate must prove that they have a simple majority of 169 seats out of the 336-seat parliament that will be sitting in the next few weeks.
Several political parties and candidates called for protests against the results, saying they were rigged. PTI supporters blocked traffic in the northern city of Peshawar, but a large protest the party had threatened to hold unless results were announced on Sunday was called off.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
[ad_2]
Source link
