Pakistan government deal agreed despite opposition from Imran Khan’s PTI

Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz to form a coalition with Shehbaz Sharif selected as candidate for PM.

Two of Pakistan’s leading political parties have reached a formal agreement to form a coalition government, they say, days after inconclusive national elections did not return a clear majority.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) now have the “required numbers” to form a government, PMLN President and former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday.

Sitting beside Sharif at a news conference in Islamabad, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former foreign minister and chairperson of the PPP, confirmed that Sharif would be their coalition’s candidate for prime minister.

He added that his father, Asif Ali Zardari, would be the alliance’s candidate for president.

Sharif, who is the younger brother of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, said the PMLN-PPP coalition also had the support of other smaller parties.

The announcement comes after 10 days of intense negotiations following the February 8 elections, which resulted in a hung National Assembly when no party secured the 134 seats needed for a simple majority and to form government on its own.

Independent candidates aligned with another leading political party – jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) – won the most seats at 93 but did not have the numbers or a political party or coalition that would enable them to govern.

PTI-aligned candidates were forced to run as independents in the face of state restrictions against the party.

The PMLN is the largest party with 79 seats, and the PPP is second with 54. They along with four other smaller parties have a comfortable