Islamabad (Reuters) – A minority government is forming in Pakistan around former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
After ten days of intensive negotiations, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has reached a coalition agreement with the Muslim League (PML-N), the two organizations announced on Tuesday. The two parties wanted to form a government as quickly as possible, said former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who entered the race as the PPP’s top candidate. He confirmed during a press conference with Shehbaz Sharif that the former Muslim League prime minister would lead the coalition and become the new Prime Minister of Pakistan. The alliance is proposing his father Asif Ali Zardari as president.
The parliamentary election in Pakistan on February 8th, which was marred by violence, resulted in no clear winner. The candidates supported by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan won the most seats. Both Imran Khan and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif claimed victory. Nawaz is Shehbaz Sharif’s elder brother and has proposed him as a candidate for prime minister.
In Pakistan, the head of government is elected by the National Assembly for five years with a simple majority. One of the economic challenges facing the nuclear power is negotiating a new aid program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as quickly as possible. The country with 241 million inhabitants – about three times as many as Germany – is facing an economic crisis and record inflation. According to Pakistan’s constitution, a parliamentary session must be convened by February 29 to vote on a new prime minister.
(Report by Gibran Peshimam, written by Philipp Krach. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and economics) or [email protected] (for companies and markets).)