PML-N and PPP Strike Midnight Consensus to Form New Govt In Pakistan; Imran's PTI Calls Alliance 'PDM 2.0'

A few weeks after the controversial February 8 election, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), reached a midnight consensus on Tuesday to form a new government after several rounds of intense negotiations.

The PML-N won 75 seats while the PPP came third with 54 seats. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has also agreed to support them with their 17 seats. PML-N, along with four other smaller parties, have a comfortable majority in the legislature of 264 seats. The coalition of the two biggest parties, reportedly with the backing of the Pakistan army, is being dubbed as “PDM 2.0.” In September 2020, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) emerged as a coalition of political parties in Pakistan. It was founded as a movement against the military, which was supporting Imran Khan’s PTI at the time.

‘Required Numbers’

At a late-night presser on Tuesday, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari announced that PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif is set to assume the role of the Prime Minister once again. PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari, 68, is said to become the country’s President again. “The PPP and PML-N have achieved the required number, and [now] we are in a position to form the government,” Bilawal told reporters. He said ex-PM Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: party-backed candidates and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) failed to achieve a simple majority in Parliament to form a government in the Centre.

The delay in forming a government in the nation of 241 million has caused concern as Pakistan is grappling with an economic crisis amid slow growth and record inflation, rising militant violence, and needs a stable administration with the authority to take tough decisions. Speaking at the presser, Shehbaz, 72, said they had asked the PTI to form its government in the Centre but the former ruling party failed to muster up the magic number of 169 required for the task.

Shehaz, who was PM from 2022 to 2023, claimed that the PML-N, as well as its allied parties, were ready to sit on the opposition benches had the PTI decided to form its government. He asserted that his PML-N now has the “required numbers” with the PPP to be in a position to form the next government. The former PM stressed the unity between the two parties, noting that they were well-positioned to form the government at the Centre.

‘Mandate Thieves’

This announcement comes as the cash-strapped country faced a hung Parliament after the February 8 elections. Independent candidates, a majority backed by 71-year-old Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: party, won 93 National Assembly seats. Pakistan media reports said that many independents are said to be defecting to PML-N.

In a post on X, 71-year-old Khan’s PTI hit out at the newly cemented PPP, PML-N alliance as ‘PDM 2.0’ “PDM 2.0 = #MandateThieves.” The announcement of the alliance came a day after the latest round of talks between the top leaders of the two parties ended inconclusively on Monday as both sides failed to reach a consensus on a power-sharing formula to form a coalition government. Shehbaz Sharif said that the journey ahead for the new government would not be easy but fraught with many difficulties and obstacles. He asserted that the coalition alliance will tackle them together, the Dawn newspaper reported.

(With agency inputs)