Pakistan Elections: Parties step up efforts to form govt after split verdict

With none of the three main parties close to even a simple majority in Parliament, analysts agreed that the next government would be a coalition.

Pakistan’s three main political parties stepped up efforts on Saturday to form a government after a split mandate in the general election saw independent candidates backed mainly by former premier Imran Khan’s party winning more seats than the PML-N and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

Results continued to trickle in two days after the close of balloting on Thursday, with independent candidates bagging almost 100 of the 253 constituencies for which results were declared by the Election Commission of Pakistan. At least 90 of these candidates are backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of Khan, who is in jail after his conviction in three separate cases.

Three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N party won 71 seats in the National Assembly or lower house of Parliament, while the PPP led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari secured 54 seats.

Leaders of both PML-N and PTI claimed victory and said efforts were underway to form the next government. In an apparent reference to the military, PTI chairman Gohar Khan, who is also the former premier’s lawyer, called on “all institutions” in Pakistan to respect his party’s mandate.

“We have no quarrel with anyone, we want to move forward. We will proceed and form a government in accordance with the Constitution and the law,” Gohar Khan told a news conference in Islamabad. “No obstacles should be created for the PTI and results should be announced as soon as possible.”

PTI leaders said an announcement will soon be made about which party the independent candidates will join so that a government can be formed. Independent candidates cannot form a government on their own, and joining another party will also ensure that the PTI can get a portion of the 76 reserved seats in the 342-member National Assembly that are distributed according to a party’s vote share.

Zulfi Bukhari, a close aide and media adviser to Imran Khan, told HT: “We will merge with a party but won’t do an alliance with any mainstream party to form a disjointed and weak government.”

Hours after Sharif called on other parties on Friday to join hands with the PML-N to form a government, his brother, former premier Shehbaz Sharif, met Bhutto-Zardari and his father, former president Asif Ali Zardari, in Lahore for consultations on forming a coalition, according to media reports.

Shehbaz Sharif and Zardari agreed to form a government at the centre and in Punjab province and the PML-N and the PPP will finalise all matters related to a power-sharing formula and the distribution of portfolios through mutual consultations, Geo News channel quoted its sources as saying. The Dawn newspaper cited its sources as saying that the meeting was brief but “ended on a positive note”.

However, Bhutto-Zardari told Geo News on Saturday that the PPP “has not had any official conversation” with the PML-N, the PTI or other political parties on forming a coalition.

With none of the three parties close to even a simple majority in Parliament, analysts agreed that the next government would be a coalition in which the PTI-backed independent candidates could play a crucial role.

People familiar with the matter said the PTI was looking at the possibility of getting the independents to join the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Pakistan (MWM). On the other hand, they said, the PML-N and the PPP could seek to woo some of the independents to their camp with inducements such as a position in the government. The independent candidates have three days to join a party after being elected.

The powerful Pakistan Army, which has faced considerable criticism for its perceived role in shutting the PTI out of the election process, on Saturday called for a “unified government of all democratic forces”. While PTI leaders were detained, harassed and barred from holding rallies, the party was barred from the polls by the Election Commission for not complying with electoral laws on holding internal elections.

Pakistan Army chief Gen Asim Munir, in a statement issued by the military’s media arm, appeared to throw his weight behind a coalition government. He said: “Pakistan’s diverse polity and pluralism will be well-represented by a unified government of all democratic forces imbibed with national purpose.”

Pakistan, he said, needs “stable hands and a healing touch to move on from the politics of anarchy and polarisation”, and elections are “not a zero-sum competition of winning and losing”. Munir added: “Political leadership and their workers should rise above self-interests and synergise efforts in governing and serving the people which is perhaps the only way to make democracy functional and purposeful.”

Noting that the people had “reposed their combined trust in the Constitution”, Munir said it is “incumbent upon all political parties to reciprocate the same with political maturity and unity”.

Meanwhile, Australia, the UK, the US and the European Union (EU) have expressed concerns about the fairness of Pakistan’s election process.

Australia’s foreign ministry said in a statement it was “regrettable” that the Pakistani people “were restricted in their choice, since not all political parties were allowed to contest these elections”. In a post on X, UK foreign secretary David Cameron said: “We recognise serious concerns over the fairness and lack of inclusivity of Pakistan’s elections.”

US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement: “We join credible international and local election observers in their assessment that these elections included undue restrictions on freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.” The US, he said, is concerned about allegations of interference in the electoral process and claims of “interference or fraud should be fully investigated”.

The EU too sought a “timely and full investigation” by Pakistani authorities of all reported election irregularities. The 27-nation bloc expressed regret at the “lack of a level playing field due to the inability of some political actors to contest the elections” and allegations of severe interference in the electoral process. The EU also called on all political actors in Pakistan to “engage in a peaceful and inclusive dialogue aiming at the formation of a stable government”.

Responding to this criticism, Pakistan’s foreign ministry expressed surprise at the “negative tone of some of these statements”, which didn’t account for the complexity of the electoral process or acknowledge the free exercise of the right to vote by tens of millions of Pakistanis.

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