Shahbaz Sharif expressed his readiness to negotiate with the PTI to include it in the government coalition (French)

The Muslim League (Nawaz's wing) and the Pakistan People's Party announced an alliance between them to form the new government that is supposed to be led by former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while the PTI refused to join this alliance and decided to challenge the results of the recent elections.

The People's Party, which came second in the parliamentary elections by winning 54 seats out of 264 seats, announced its support for the League Party's candidate - which came in first place - for the position of prime minister without participating in it.

In a press conference in the capital, Islamabad, yesterday, Tuesday, Shahbaz said that he wants his older brother Nawaz - who headed the government three times - to return to his position. But the League Party spokeswoman announced on the “X” platform that Nawaz wants his younger brother to be head of the next government.

Shahbaz expressed his party's readiness to negotiate with former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been imprisoned since last August in various cases, to include the PTI in the new government, noting that the new alliance has a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

However, Imran announced from inside his prison his refusal to participate in the announced alliance between the League and the People’s Parties, denouncing what he called the fraud in the elections that took place last Thursday.

For his part, co-chairman of the People's Party, Asif Ali Zardari, a former president of the country, said - during the same press conference - that his party decided to participate in forming the government to extract Pakistan from the difficulties.

Earlier yesterday, the party's other co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, expressed that he would like his father Asif Zardari to assume the presidency of the country again.

The independent candidates topped the results of the parliamentary elections by winning 101 seats, and the PTI supported 93 of these independents. The League Party (Nawaz’s wing) won 75 seats, the People’s Party 54 seats, and the United People’s Movement Party 17 seats. The League and the People’s Parties alone can form a government with a majority. Simple parliamentarism.

The PTI was banned from participating in the recent elections, as was its striking symbol, so most of the party's followers ran as independents, and its officials confirm that its candidates would have won a greater number of seats had it not been for "rigging."

Independents cannot form a government despite obtaining the largest number of seats, as a recognized party or coalition of parties must form it.

Imran Khan during his appearance last summer before the Supreme Court in Islamabad (Reuters - Archive)

PTI position

For its part, the Insaf Party, led by Imran Khan, announced that it had reached an understanding with the United Action Council, a grouping of Shiite parties, allowing its independent representatives to join the Council’s partisan bloc in the federal parliament and the local parliament in the Punjab province.

The same party also announced a similar understanding with the Islamic Group to join its party bloc in the local parliament in Khyber Province, northwest of the country.

PTI officials confirm that they would have won more seats had it not been for vote rigging.

From inside the Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, Imran Khan ruled out cooperation with the League and the People's Parties, the main partners in the new coalition.

Imran told reporters - during a procedural hearing in prison - that his party will appeal to the Supreme Court on the grounds of fraud in the election results, and then study the alliance.

The former Prime Minister warned against any new government being formed through what he called stolen votes, saying that this would exacerbate the economic situation.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies