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Pakistan election: PTI joins religious parties, PPP backs rival PMLN
Five days after Pakistan’s general election, two opposing parties, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), have both announced plans to form a government – with the PTI allying with religious parties and the PPP forming a coalition with rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN).
The PTI leadership on Tuesday announced that its independent candidates would try to form a federal government and one in Punjab province by joining a coalition with the minority party Majlis-e-Wahdat-Muslimeen (MWM).
The party also said its candidates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province would ally with another religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), to form a government.
Thursday’s elections delivered a split mandate with no party securing a majority in the National Assembly. Independent candidates affiliated with jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI won the most seats. But to form a government, they still need to be part of a political party or a coalition.
In announcing the coalition plan on Tuesday, PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan said he had been mandated by Khan to approach all political parties other than the “PPP, PMLN and MQM”, or Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
“Imran Khan has a clear message that formation of a government is the right of who had won the elections,” Hasan said at a press conference in Islamabad.
Former cricketer Khan was ousted from power in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022. The PTI was also forced to field its candidates as independents after its electoral symbol, a cricket bat, was stripped from it in January for violating election laws.
Khan has maintained he will not engage with three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s PMLN or former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s PPP, calling them “corrupt”.
In Thursday’s polls, PTI-backed candidates emerged on top with 93 seats in the National Assembly whereas the PMLN was the single biggest party with 75 seats. The PPP was the third highest with 54 seats. To form a government, a party or coalition needs a simple majority of 134 seats in the National Assembly out of the 266 that were voted on during the general election.
Besides the 266 directly elected seats, an additional 60 seats are reserved for women and 10 for minorities. Those seats are distributed among parties according to the ratio of seats they won, but independents will not receive these quota seats.
While two parties can form a coalition and still retain their individual identity and policies, independent candidates, once they join a party, must adhere to that party’s discipline and decisions.
The PTI has insisted that its singular majority was stolen in the election due to alleged tampering and vote manipulation. Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, the PTI’s interim party chief, said on Tuesday that the PTI believes it has won 180 seats, instead of 93. “We will share a white paper with all the details,” he added. Neither Hasan nor Gohar Ali Khan said who would be the party’s candidates for prime minister, speaker and deputy speaker in parliament.
Coalition between PPP and PMLN
Hours after the PTI’s announcement, the PPP and PMLN said at a press conference that they would form a new coalition and join with smaller parties to lead the country.
Although they did not specify who would lead the government, PMLN spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said on the social media platform X that Nawaz Sharif had nominated his younger brother and Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the post.
Earlier on Tuesday, Bhutto-Zardari, the PPP chairperson, said his party would endorse the PMLN’s candidate for the position of prime minister and would align with it.
He said the PPP decided against taking any role in the cabinet, and he would not be putting his name forward for the premiership, “We do not have the mandate to form a government in the federation, and therefore, I will not be putting myself forward for the candidacy of the prime minister,” he said during a press conference in Islamabad.
Bhutto-Zardari expressed his desire to see his father, former President Asif Ali Zardari, return to that position while also announcing the party would put candidates forward for Senate chairperson and speaker of the National Assembly.
“We ran this election on the manifesto based on public importance, and we want to restore political stability and want to end this environment of political toxicity,” the PPP chairperson said.
Political analyst Benazir Shah said the decision by the PPP seems to be a smart move. “The PPP has been trying to make inroads into Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, for the past few years. This is an opportunity for them to spend the next five years mobilising their party in the province, especially since these election results show weakening of PMLN’s vote bank,” she told Al Jazeera. “The PPP has its eyes set on 2029, not on 2024.”
Regarding the PTI, analyst Mehmal Sarfraz said it was incumbent on the party to ensure its winning candidates join the MWM so party discipline applies to them and they cannot jump ship.
However, she questioned Imran Khan, for refusing to engage with other political parties.
“This is not about any principle. This is about Khan’s narrative of hate against these parties and his divisive politics. It is unfortunate that PTI is not willing to talk to any other mainstream political party. Democracy is also about co-existence and tolerating other’s point of view, but PTI’s politics is essentially ‘either with us or against us’,” she told Al Jazeera.
Shah concurred, saying that while the election results show that Pakistani voters want to see the PTI in office, it appears Khan is still adamant on “politics of confrontation”.
“His refusal to sit with the PPP to form a government signals that Khan is still not ready to sit with political parties in the larger interest of democracy,” she added.
Sarfraz believes that, given the circumstances, the PPP made the right call by joining the PMLN alliance, adding that it is the PMLN that needs the PPP, not the other way around.
“No party has the numbers to form a government on its own. Ideally, the PPP would have wanted Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to be the leader of the opposition. But options are limited, especially because of the PTI’s rigid stance. So this is effectively the only thing they could have done,” the Lahore-based analyst said.
(Aljazeera)
Following the conclusion of bilateral discussions between President Anura Kumara Disanayake and Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, official-level talks between the delegations of Sri Lanka and India commenced this morning (05) at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.
Representing the Government of Sri Lanka were Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, Vijitha Herath; Minister of Labour and Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Anil Jayantha; Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake; Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, along with other senior officials.
The Indian delegation included Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and His Excellency Santosh Jha, High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, along with several other senior officials of the Government of India.
New Zealand kept their ODI record against Pakistan spotless as they eased to a 43 run win to seal a 3-0 series sweep.
After a nearly-two-hour delay to the start because of a wet outfield owing to overnight rain in Mount Maunganui, Michael Bracewell and Rhys Mariu’s half-centuries got New Zealand up to 264 in 42 overs. Pakistan made a slow start amid a freak injury to Imam-ul-Haq and while there were contributions right down the order led by a Babar Azam half-century, New Zealand never let Pakistan get on top of the asking rate. Five more wickets for Ben Sears saw New Zealand regularly chip away as Pakistan folded for 221.
For the third successive game, Mohammad Rizwan won the toss and decided to put New Zealand in. Naseem Shah came in for the concussed Harris Rauf and had an immediate impact, squaring Nick Kelly up to get an early wicket. But New Zealand consolidated with a 78-run stand between Mariu and Henry Nicholls, even if it wasn’t quite as explosive as New Zealand have been in the first powerplay this series.
Sufiyan Muqeem was introduced somewhat late in the game, but struck almost immediately, getting a fluid Mariu out for a half-century as he tried to sweep. But New Zealand continued to work their way through the innings sedately, building one partnership after another; five of the top six scored between 26 and 59. Tim Seifert and Daryl Mitchell combined for another 61-run stand as they geared up to give the lower-middle order a platform for a big finish.
It was captain Bracewell who made good on that platform in a blistering innings. He started slowly after coming in with just under 11 overs to go, but when he launched Mohammed Wasim over fine leg in the 34th over, it would be the first of a half-dozen sixes off his bat. Akif Javeed bore the brunt of the punishment, plundered for 18 in the following over as Bracewell hared towards his half-century. It would come in the final over of the innings with a fifth six of the innings against Akif; he would smash one more before Akif finally got his man off the last ball of the innings. It was his fourth wicket, but having smashed 59 off 40, Bracewell had what he wanted from his knock.
New Zealand’s quicks were tight up top once more and strangled Pakistan early, but the early stages of the game were defined by the injury to Imam. He nudged Will O’Rourke and set off for a single, but the throw at his end bounced up awkwardly and ended up lodging itself in the grill of Imam’s helmet. Imam went down immediately as the physio raced on. Extensive treatment followed as it became clear Imam would struggle to continue. He would be bandaged and wheeled off on a stretcher, with Usman Khan his concussion substitute.
Abdullah Shafique and Babar were steady through the early stages of the chase, but never as brisk as was required of them. Shafique’s innings was typically punctuated by quality shot-making, a pick-up of O’Rourke towards midwicket perhaps the highlight, but 33 off 56 was a truer indicator of how few and far between such aggression was. He failed to get on top of a short ball from Sears to give Jacob Duffy a comfortable catch in the deep; by now, the asking rate was approaching eight.
Usman’s innings ended with a moment of brilliance in the field from Bracewell – of the sort that has become their hallmark. Usman looked uncomfortable against the short ball as ever and skied one off Muhammad Abbas. Bracewell dashed in from midwicket, and it always looked like the ball would land just short, but a dive at full stretch saw him pluck the ball inches off the ground.
In a dagger blow to Pakistan, Babar followed swifty after, clipping one to deep midwicket immediately after bringing up his half-century. It became something of a theme for the innings; each of the top seven reached double-figures without making a more meaningful contribution to the chase. The captain Rizwan was the most proactive, looking good through a breezy 32-ball 37, but with wickets falling at the other end, Pakistan needed a bit more meat on the bones of that innings. But Duffy cleverly changed his pace and drew a miscue from him, leaving Pakistan a further 96 to win in just 56 with the top half back in the hut.
In the second game, the bottom half had bailed Pakistan out of an embarrassing defeat, primarily led by Faheem Ashraf. There would be no rescue act from the allrounder this time, Bracewell striking as he sliced to Seifert who took a sharp catch, and Naseem was only good for a brief cameo before the returning Sears put a stop to it.
By now, Pakistan’s hopes of victory were realistically over, and Sears made hay, taking three off the last four wickets – including the final one – to help himself to a second consecutive five-wicket haul. There was brief drama at the end of a long day when the lights went out just as Duffy was about to deliver to Tayyab Tahir, fighting a lone if purposeless hand at the end of the innings. When the lights came back on, though, he was gone next ball, and it would be under bright lights that New Zealand sealed glory, plunging Pakistan into ever-deepening gloom as they ended a miserable tour on a feeble note.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 264 for 8 in 42 overs (Michaell Bracewell 59, Rhys Mariu 58, Daryl Mitchell 43, Henry Nicholls 31, Tim Seifert 26; Akif Javed 4-62, Naseem Shah 2-54) beat Pakistan 221 in 40 overs (Babar Azam 50, Abdulla Shafiqe 33, Mohamed Rizwan 37, Tayyab Tahir 33; Ben Sears 5-34, Jacob Duffy 2-40) by 43 runs
[Cricinfo]
Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, who arrived in Sri Lanka on the invitation of President Anura Kumara Disanayake on Friday [04] night, visited the Presidential Secretariat this morning (05).
The Indian Prime Minister was warmly welcomed by President Anura Kumara Disanayake upon his arrival at the Presidential Secretariat.
Prime Minister Modi is currently on a state visit to Sri Lanka, reaffirming the theme “Friendship of Centuries — Commitment to a Prosperous Future” which symbolises the longstanding ties between Sri Lanka and India. The Indian Premier is scheduled to remain in the country until tomorrow (06).
[PMD]
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