Major Pakistani parties meet on forming new govt

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): Following the 2024 general election, major Pakistani political parties have started wheeling and dealing to form a new government.

Most of the National Assembly seats (99) have been grabbed by independent candidates, supported by the jailed ex-premier Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

However, despite winning the highest number of seats in the lower house and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, they are unlikely to establish their own government.

They will have to join another party to form government, which appears to be a remote possibility in the prevailing circumstances.

Headed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistan Muslim League- N emerged as the largest single party with 71 National Assembly seats.

It is followed by the Pakistan People’s Party, led by then president Asif Ali Zardari, with 53 seats.

At a meeting in Lahore late Friday night, leaders of the mainstream parties, PML-N and PPP, agreed to work together to achieve political and economic stability in the country.

Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met ex-premier and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif on how to stabilise the country after the nation gave them a split mandate.

Radio Pakistan reported: “Both sides exchanged views about [the] formation of the new government.”

Earlier, the US State Department said it was “concerned about allegations of interference in the electoral process” in Pakistan.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US joined election observers in their assessment that the polls included undue restrictions on freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.

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