Reached agreement with PML-N to form coalition government, claims Pakistan ex-FM Bilawal Bhutto

Islamabad, February 20

Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Tuesday that his party had reached an agreement with the largest party in the country’s national assembly to form a coalition government.

The agreement between Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of three-time premier Nawaz Sharif ends days of uncertainty and negotiations after the February 8 elections produced a hung national assembly.

Bhutto Zardari confirmed at a late night press conference that former Premier Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of Nawaz, will be the coalition’s candidate for Prime Minister, and his father Asif Ali Zardari will be their candidate for the country’s President.

Earlier, speaking to reporters outside the Supreme Court, Bilawal said that the people’s message was that no single party could run the country and that all would have to work together.

“In a democracy, you call this process a compromise, which means that there will be a give and take if political parties form an alliance,” the former foreign minister said.

The PPP chairman said that after the polls, all political stakeholders would have to form a consensus on the way forward in order to save the democratic and parliamentary system in Pakistan. — Agencies

Process of compromise

The people’s message is that no single party can run the country and that all will have to work together. In a democracy, you call this process a compromise. — Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, PPP chairman