Pakistan polls: PPP-PML-N talks stuck over who gets the prime minister's chair

The two biggest political parties in Pakistan are fighting over who will become prime minister following last week’s inconclusive elections, which compelled them to work together to secure a majority in a house presided over by Imran Khan-backed independents.

The backstabbing is expected to exacerbate worries about the stability of the nuclear-armed country, which is struggling with an upsurge in extremist violence in addition to an economic crisis. The benchmark share index for Pakistan dropped 2.1% on Monday, the day after the results were announced.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif—who won the most seats after the independents—issued a statement late on Sunday pledging their commitment to “steering Pakistan away from political instability and towards a path of prosperity and resilience” and “putting the nation’s interest and well-being above everything”.

The influence of candidates backed by Khan, a former prime minister who lost 93 of the 264 seats up for grabs in the election and is currently imprisoned for corruption, would be lessened by a successful alliance between the two parties.

Analysts speculate that certain candidates, who were formerly with Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), might align with either party or establish an alliance with a lesser party to oppose the other candidate. The outcome is being contested in court by a large number of other former PTI members who did not gain seats, which might further complicate coalition negotiations.

Regarding the plans of the candidates, the PTI refuses to comment.

But according to PML-N and PPP officials, negotiations were bogged down in disagreements over which politician would become prime minister.

Although the PML-N has not yet announced its candidate for prime minister, insiders claim that Nawaz Sharif, 74, who has served as prime minister three times, and his younger brother Shehbaz, 72, who served as prime minister for eighteen months until August of last year, will compete for the position.

The 35-year-old former foreign minister, who the PPP has always insisted is its political heir, would become Pakistan’s youngest prime since his mother Benazir held the position if he were to win.

A contender for prime minister must demonstrate that, when the 336-member National Assembly is called into session in the coming weeks, they have a simple majority of 169 seats.

Protests against the results have been called by a number of political groups and candidates who claim they have been rigged. Supporters of the PTI stopped traffic in Peshawar, in the north, but the party canceled the massive protest it had planned to stage if the results were not announced on Sunday.

(With agency inputs)