Pakistani police stand guard outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Monday after judges postponed a hearing seeking to annul the results of the February 8 elections after the petitioner, identified as retired army officer Ali Khan, unexpectedly withdrew the application. Khan was seeking new elections under judicial supervision due to fears that alleged manipulation of the vote had produced an undemocratic outcome. Photo by Sohail/Shahzad/EPA-EFE
Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Two of Pakistan's largest political parties said they had concluded a final deal to form a coalition government focused on pulling the country back from the economic brink two weeks after a general election produced a hung parliament.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party and Pakistan Peoples Party told a news conference Tuesday they would join forces in a government led by former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari as the coalition's candidate for president.
The new parliament is set to convene before the end of the month to vote to appoint a new prime minister while a secret ballot to choose the president by both houses of Parliament and four provincial assemblies is scheduled to be held by March 9 at the latest.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardaro said the country's economic crisis would be the new government's top priority while PMLN president Shehbaz, who was prime minister until August, promised "collective action to tackle economic and other challenges".
Under the power-sharing deal, Shehbaz's cabinet will be an all-PMLN affair but in addition to the presidency, PPP politicians will get a number of senior posts including Senate chairman, deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Punjab governor and Balochistan chief minister.
Tuesday's announcement ends 12 days of uncertainty in the nation of 241 million with a shrinking economy, record-high inflation and a deteriorating security situation amid a surge in violent attacks by militant groups, particularly in regions bordering Afghanistan, and rising military tensions with Iran.
The two parties won 75 and 54 seats respectively far short of the 93 secured by the populist Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan -- in an election marred by violence and allegations of voter suppression and ballot fraud.
No party reached the 169-seat threshold to form a government but the backing of smaller parties and women and religious constituencies the PMLN-PPP pact will have the necessary working majority.
The PTI reacted to the announcement with anger, accusing the current administration of using mafia tactics to "steal the people's mandate."
"Unprecedented electoral rigging by the undemocratic regime to undermine PTI's clear majority and make the 2024 elections results as a split mandate," the party said in a post on X.
The PMLN-PPP alliance, first floated a week ago, is an all-Sharif family affair in which PMLN leader and three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif nominated his brother, Shehbaz, for prime minister and daughter Maryam Nawaz for the post of chief minister in the Sharif heartland of Punjab.
Shehbaz Sharif replaced Khan as prime minister in April 2022 after he was removed from office in a vote by the National Assembly and served until August 2023 when parliament was dissolved at the end of its five-year term.
Shehbaz served 21 years as the Chief Minister of Punjab, the country's most populous province, before entering national politics in 2018.
