Pakistan People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has revealed that he has said 'no' to a power-sharing formula that would see the Prime Minister's post shared between his parties and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's parties because he is not at the top wanted to dress. post without the mandate of the people.
The 35-year-old former foreign minister was the prime ministerial face of the PPP. However, in the February 8 elections, his party came third with 54 seats in the National Assembly, behind more than 90 seats won by independents backed by Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz . PML-N).
To form a government, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly.
The PPP and PML-N, who formed an alliance after the elections, have failed to reach consensus on a power-sharing formula despite several meetings between their top leaders.
Speaking at a Yaum-i-Tashakur (Thanksgiving Day) gathering in Thatta to celebrate the PPP's election victory in Sindh province, Bilawal said: “I was told [by PML-N] which allows us to be Prime Minister for three years and then you can take over the Prime Ministership for the remaining two years.” “I said no to this. I said I don't want to be that kind of prime minister,” he said. “If I become prime minister, it will be after the people of Pakistan have elected me.” Without naming names, Bilawal said the party had decided it would move forward with “those who asked for their votes” and would not seek ministries.
Bilawal also said that his father Asif Ali Zardari would be the PPP candidate for the presidency, stressing that the former president would play his role to defuse political tensions.
“To control the spread of fire in the country, we have decided that Zardari will be our candidate for the presidential elections. And when he takes up the post, he will put out this fire and save the Center and the provinces,” he said.
He said the country needed a political party that spoke about the people's problems, adding that the looming economic and political crisis had divided society.
“What should happen is that politicians and all political parties should think about the people of this country instead of focusing on their personal benefit,” Bilawal stressed.
He alleged that a PTI-backed candidate was made to win against a PPP leader.
He said the PPP had decided to collect the election complaints from party workers across the country and raise them at appropriate forums. “If we fail, we will come to you and protest together,” he said.
Bilawal appealed to all political parties to “stay within the system” and work for the betterment of the country.
Reacting to Bilawal's comments, PML-N leader Ishaq Dar stressed that it is not appropriate to divulge details of talks between the parties vying to form the next government.
He emphasized that the PPP chairman had made public the time-sharing formula, but “that was just one aspect and there could be more formulas.”
Dar said the plan to form a government with the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan (MQM-P) was “still underway,” while pointing out that no other choice was available to them.
The former finance minister said the committees of both political parties have held four rounds of meetings so far, but nothing has been finalized yet.
“None of the committee members from either party will make anything public until it is not finalized,” Dar said.
“I get calls every day to find out about progress, but I am morally obligated not to say anything until it is completed,” he said.
He said the upcoming meeting, which marks the fifth round between the two sides, could lead to a breakthrough, although he did not reveal details.
“The consultations on various proposals were ongoing till yesterday,” Dar stated in a message shared by PML-N on X, suggesting continued deliberations between the parties. He further noted that while progress had been made, both sides had not yet finalized key points of agreement.
“We are working towards consensus on critical issues,” Dar affirmed, underscoring the parties' efforts to draw up a joint statement on the composition of the next government at the federal level.
The election has already been controversial, with several serious allegations of widespread manipulation to change the outcome.
Imran Khan and his party have rejected the results, claiming they have won at least 180 seats in the National Assembly, and have called for peaceful protests across the country.
In Balochistan province, several political parties have completely rejected the election results and launched an indefinite campaign to end indefinite closures and wheel congestion and also disrupt traffic movement on the national highways.
Meanwhile, the PTI on Sunday renewed its efforts to form governments at the Centre, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the help of a new partner, the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
It comes two days after the decision to sit on the opposition benches and launch a nationwide campaign against alleged rigging in the February 8 elections. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, talks between the PTI parliamentarians stalled after the PTI leadership demanded the removal of certain leaders, including ex-CMs Pervez Khattak and Mahmood Khan from the party.
However, at a press conference on Sunday, PTI leaders vowed to form governments, with Prime Minister candidate Omar Ayub saying 30 million votes had been collected for PTI-backed candidates even without the electoral symbol of 'bat'.
To increase its numbers in Parliament, the PTI after talks in Islamabad decided to partner in principle with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) in the National and Punjab assemblies to claim seats reserved for women and minorities.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)