Nawaz Sharif's chances of becoming Pakistan PM brighten as PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto withdraws from race

None of the three major parties, the PML-N, the PPP, or the PTI have won the necessary seats in the February 8 general election to secure a majority in the National Assembly

Nawaz Sharif speaks at the party office of Pakistan Muslim League (N) in Lahore. Reuters

PTI

Islamabad, February 13

In a major boost to former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's bid to secure a record fourth term, Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday withdrew from the race, saying his party would support the ex-premier without being part of the government.

Despite independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party springing a surprise by winning the most seats in Parliament, questions loom over what the next government of Pakistan will look like five days after the general election.

None of the three major parties, the PML-N, the PPP, or the PTI have won the necessary seats in the February 8 general election to secure a majority in the National Assembly and, therefore, will be unable to form government on their own, leading to a hung Parliament.

Addressing a press conference here after the meeting of the PPP's high-powered Central Executive Committee (CEC), held under his leadership, Bilawal has said the reality is that his party does not have a mandate to form a federal government.

“Due to this, I will not be putting myself forward for the candidacy of the prime minister of Pakistan,” the 35-year-old former foreign minister said, adding that PML-N and the independents have greater numbers in the Centre.

Bilawal's announcement came hours after former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, 74, will become the prime minister for a record fourth time.

"I had said that Nawaz Sharif would become prime minister for the fourth time. And I maintain today that he is going to be the PM for the fourth time," Shehbaz told a press conference.

Bilawal noted that Imran Khan's PTI had refused to form a coalition with the PPP which left the PML-N as the only party that had invited the PPP to join the government.

Khan on Tuesday dismissed the idea of forming a coalition government with any of the main political parties in Pakistan and termed them as the “biggest money launderers” being brought to power.

The 71-year-old Khan, also the founder of PTI, was speaking with journalists at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. Khan and many of his party colleagues are lodged in jail for many months in connection with convictions in multiple cases.

“There can be no alliance with PML-N, PPP, and MQM,” he said, adding that he had directed PTI Information Secretary Raouf Hasan to bring together all parties except the three parties.