ISLAMABAD, 20 October — The Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six religious parties, has said it would be ready to give up claims to some of the top ministries and the speaker’s post if other parties support its prime ministerial candidate.
The alliance has named Fazlur Rehman as the candidate for prime minister and Liaqat Baloch as the candidate for speaker of the National Assembly.
"We are ready to give the top nine ministries and the speakership to any other parties if they agree to support Rehman for the prime minister’s office," MMA’s senior leader and newly elected parliamentarian Hafiz Hussain Ahmad said.
Winning 45 seats, MMA has attained an important position in a house of 272. At present no party or group has the requisite support to form a government.
Ahmad said MMA was determined that Rehman should become prime minister and the party would rather sit in the opposition than support a prime ministerial candidate from any other party.
"The nomination of Rehman was the decision of (MMA’s) general council and is irreversible," he said.
He said the alliance has offered a package of nine ministries and the post of the speaker to parties that can form an alliance, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) and Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) on the condition that the prime minister’s post is given to MMA.
PML-Q has secured 77 seats in the National Assembly while PPPP has won 63.
According to the law, at least 136 members are required to form the government.
MMA is already set to form the new government in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Balochistan, after having won a majority in the provincial assembly poll there.
Various parties are trying to form alliances to bid for power in Islamabad. President Pervez Musharraf had announced that he would hand over power to the next government by Nov. 1.
Musharraf, who will remain president for five years, has the authority to dismiss Parliament and sack the prime minister if he at any time thinks the government has failed to work smoothly.
Under another law enacted by the military regime, the president will also have the authority to nominate military services chiefs and provincial governors. He will head the National Security Council that will oversee government functioning.
"We’ll discuss all these amendments to the constitution in Parliament and would take a decision on whether they are required or not," said Ahmad.
He said MMA wants to establish a strong political government that can continue for five years and is ready to cooperate with other parties for this.
