PML-N won 75 seats, while the PPP came in third with 54 seats.
Islamabad:
Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Sunday revealed the power-sharing package offered to him, in which the post of prime minister would be between his party and the Pakistan Muslim League (Sharif faction) led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ) shared and formed an alliance with the latter after the polls.
Four-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) met on Saturday and made gains while discussing several issues “Great progress” was made, but no progress was made on the announcement of a coalition government. The two parties formed an alliance after the polls earlier this week.
Independent candidates – most of them backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party led by 71-year-old jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan – won 93 of the 265 seats in the National Assembly contested in the February 8 election.
PML-N won 75 seats, while the PPP came in third with 54 seats. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) also agreed to support them with its 17 seats.
To form a government, a party must win 133 of the 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly.
Addressing a rally in Thatta city in Sindh province, 35-year-old PPP chief Bilawal revealed a power-sharing package offered to his party, which he rejected, Dawn reported.
“I was told, let’s be prime minister for three years and then you can be prime minister for the remaining two years,” he said.
“I said no to that. I said I don’t want to be such a prime minister,” Bilawal said. “If I become prime minister, it will be after the people of Pakistan elect me,” he added.
The former foreign minister asserted that the country needs a political party that talks about people’s issues, saying the brewing economic and political crisis has led to divisions in society.
“What should happen is that politicians and all political parties should not just focus on personal interests but should think about the people of this country,” he said.
His remarks came a day after Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha claimed that candidates who “lost” elections in the city were “destined to win”. Before resigning, he claimed that 13 candidates from Rawalpindi were forcibly declared the winners.
Chatta resigned from his post after “taking responsibility” for rigging the poll results.
Former cricketer-turned-politician Khan’s PTI party has begun holding nationwide protests against alleged manipulation and theft of its mandate in the February 8 elections.
Meanwhile, the ECP launched an investigation into the allegations against Chatta, who has now been transferred to the Services and General Administration Department (SGAD) in Lahore.
The PPP has called for an investigation into the allegations. The PML-N, however, raised questions about Chatta’s mental condition.
More than a week has passed and the Election Commission of Pakistan has still not notified most of the independent candidates who won seats in the National Assembly in the general election of victory.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
