Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz secured a resounding victory in the 2013 General Elections. As unofficial results continue to stream in from across the land, the Party appears well poised to bag more than 120 seats in the National Assembly.
Winners emerging from JUI-F and Jamaat-e-Islami along with independents will likely total about 45 MNAs. On Sunday morning, Maulana Fazlur Rahman had already called on the Prime Minister-in waiting, Mian Nawaz Sharif, to discuss a likely coalition.
If such a coalition does emerge, as is likely; together with the support of JI and independent candidates from FATA; the PML-N may not only form the Federal Government, but also steal Imran Khans show in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
In KPK, the PTI will be the first with a chance to form government. But PML-N, JUI-F, JI and independents together wield control over more than 40 seats, compared to PTIs 34 seats. The other smaller parties would also likely prefer an alliance with PML-N, given its strength in the Centre.
An alliance with JUI-F will also help the PML-N form the government in Balochistan; effectively ensuring its control in three provinces and the Centre.
In Sindh, the PPP-P is in a comfortable position to form the provincial government and no amount of political jostling will change that reality. PML-N leaders such as Pervez Rasheed have stated that they will seek the support of as many parties as possible.
Yet given that the Presidents term will expire in September, and that PML-N will benefit most from fresh inductions to the Senate, a coalition with PPPP will be of limited use to it.
Nawaz Sharif may have been irked by references to PML-N as the representative party of Punjab, but it appears that he is just a few alliances away from forming provincial governments in three provinces as well as the Centre.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.