Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif urged rival parties to form a unity government to prevent a hung parliament which seems on the cards as per latest trends in the Pakistan elections.
Pakistan Elections: PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif Friday urged political rivals to unite and form a unity government amid a fractured mandate in the general elections and a surprise showing of Independent candidates backed by jailed ex-premier Imran Khan’s PTI party who won 92 out of the 224 seats for which results were declared so far.
Addressing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supporters at the party’s central secretariat in Lahore, 74-year-old Sharif said his party respects the mandate of all parties, including the independent candidates backed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The former three-time prime minister urged rival parties to form a unity government to prevent a hung parliament which seems on the cards as per latest trends.
‘Can’t hold polls again’: Sharif in ‘victory speech’
Changing his stance of not forging any alliance with any party, Sharif on Friday said that there is a need for all the political parties to sit together and form a government to pull Pakistan out of its difficulties.
“We can’t hold elections again and again,” he said. “We were all sitting together yesterday but didn’t address you because the results were not in.”
“Our party has emerged as single largest winning party in the country after Thursday’s polls. To steer Pakistan out of crises, we want other parties to join hands to form a coalition government,” said Sharif, the three-time former premier. “Our agenda is only a happy Pakistan and you know what we have done before.”
جو جماعتیں اس الیکشن کے اندر کامیاب ہوئی ہیں ہم ضرور انکو دعوت دینگے کہ ہمارے ساتھ شراکت کریں اور ہم مل کر حکومت بنائیں اور مل کر پاکستان کو مشکلات سے نکالیں۔
میں نے شہبازشریف صاحب کی ڈیوٹی لگائی کہ اس سلسلے میں آج ہی ہیش رفت کریں اور آج ہی محترم آصف زرداری صاحب ، محترم… pic.twitter.com/vYu5pZQ35G
— PMLN (@pmln_org) February 9, 2024
He said that all the institutions should together play a positive role in bringing Pakistan out of this crisis.
“Everyone should sit in harmony and bring Pakistan out of the difficulties,” he said
in his address which he described as a “victory speech”.
Without naming Imran Khan, Sharif said: “Those who are in a mood to fight, I want to tell them that Pakistan cannot afford this fight. Pakistan needs stability for at least 10 years as this is a matter of the lives of Pakistanis.”
He further said he wanted to develop cordial relations with neighbouring countries.
Shehbaz reaching out to rival parties
Sharif announced that he has tasked his younger brother and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif to reach out to the Pakistan Peoples’ Party’s Asif Ali Zardari, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) chief Fazlur Rehman and Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui for the formation of a coalition government.
Meanwhile, PPP Co-chairman Zardari has reached Lahore and is likely to meet PML-N leadership regarding the formation of government, according to media reports.
A coalition government led by PML-N had served for 16 months after the ouster of Imran Khan from office in April 2022.
Hung parliament
According to the latest Election Commission data, results of 224 constituencies out of 265 were declared. Independent candidates (mostly supported by PTI) bagged 92 seats while PML-N got 63 and PPP 50. Smaller parties secured 19 seats.
To form a government, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 in the National Assembly. Election to one seat was postponed after the death of a candidate.
Overall, 169 seats are needed to secure a simple majority out of its total 336 seats, which include the reserved slots for women and minorities.
Votes are still being counted after Thursday’s general election which was marred by allegations of rigging, sporadic violence and a countrywide mobile phone shutdown.
Won’t form coalition govt: PTI
Earlier, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Khan ruled out forging an alliance with the PPP and PML-N, saying his party is in a position to form a federal government on its own.
The PTI chief claimed that his party was winning 150 National Assembly seats and would be able to achieve the required number of seats to form government at the Centre.
“We are not intending to form a coalition government with PPP and PML-N,” he said. “We will form the government at the Centre and Punjab,” said Gohar Khan, who won NA-10 in the Buner area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. PTI’s former parliament speaker Asad Qaisar also won.
Authorities were earlier moving at a snail’s pace to announce the election results that in a surprising development showed Khan’s PTI supported independent candidates leading the show.
The ECP started updating results at a faster pace after facing a barrage of criticism by the parties, especially the PTI which accused that its mandate was being stolen.
Khan, 71, a cricketer-turned-politician and the founding chairman of the PTI, is behind bars and barred from contesting.