Power-sharing agreement ‘win-win’ for Pakistan Peoples Party, political analysts say

KARACHI: Political analysts said on Wednesday that an agreement between ex-premier Nawaz Sharif’s party and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to form a coalition government at the center was a “win-win” for the latter, given that it had extracted key constitutional posts from the former by bagging only 54 National Assembly seats in this month’s elections.
The PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) announced on Tuesday night their decision to back PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif for the post of prime minister, while PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari will be the two parties’ joint candidate for the post of president.
The announcement is set to end political uncertainty in the country which reached a high after the indecisive Feb. 8 polls left no party with a clear majority to form its government. Independent candidates backed by Khan won the most seats but since they did not contest from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party platform, are not eligible to form the government on their own. The PML-N bagged 75 seats while the PPP won 54 to emerge as the third-largest group in the National Assembly.
While Shehbaz Sharif said decisions regarding appointments to different constitutional positions like the Senate chairman, speaker, and provincial governors would be made after consultations, it is widely understood that the PPP is set to bag the posts of Senate chairman and Punjab governor.
“Of the three main political parties of Pakistan, PPP, the one having won the least amount of seats has managed to achieve the most within Pakistan’s power setup,” political analyst and author Nasim Zehra told Arab News.
She said the PPP had secured Zardari’s nomination for president and would also likely get its members elected as chairman of the Senate and as governors, in addition to appointing its members as chairs of powerful parliamentary committees.
“Clearly a win-win for the PPP,” Zehra noted.
Nusrat Javed, journalist and veteran political analyst, said that forming a government was necessary, adding that without it, Pakistan would have suffered bankruptcy.
He said the PPP had taken “full benefit” of the PML-N, which needed to from the government, by playing its cards well.
“The PPP has gained and played well,” Javed said. “With the cards in their hands, they have played very well.”
He, however, warned that being part of the future government would be a challenge for any political party as it would have to solve the country’s pressing economic issues.
Karachi-based political analyst Mazhar Abbas agreed that the PPP had gained the most with the power-sharing deal. He said even if the government goes home, coveted constitutional posts such as the president, Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker continue to operate.
“These positions may seem ceremonial and symbolic, but they hold significant constitutional importance,” he observed.
He said that while the PPP understands that the future government would face policy challenges and hence has distanced itself from it, it has still become “relevant.”
Abbas said that though it was likely that the PPP had “clearly failed” to make an impact in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, it is likely to get governorship in both provinces.
“It will form a government in Sindh and Balochistan and will have governors in two other provinces,” he said.
Majid Nizami, a Lahore-based analyst, meanwhile said that forming the government at the center would be beneficial for the PML-N.
“They [PML-N] could not afford to be in opposition nor could they afford to have a Pakistan Peoples Party [member] as the prime minister and be with them,” Nizami told Arab News.
He said the PML-N had agreed to form the government in Punjab and at the center as it thought its previous government from April 2022 to August 2023 was a “transitional phase” in which it could not take major decisions.
“This time they thought they could perform better,” he said.

Power-sharing agreement ‘win-win’ for Pakistan Peoples Party, political analysts say