Shehbaz Sharif is set to become Pakistan's new Prime Minister after the country's two biggest parties Pakistan Muslim Legaue-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) finalised the deal.
Earlier, the two major parties in the country finally agreed on a power-sharing formula under which Shehbaz Sharif would be nominated for the PM Office, while Asif Ali Zardari would contest for the presidency.
The agreement between Bhutto Zardari's PPP and the PML-N of three-time premier Nawaz Sharif ends days of uncertainty and negotiations after the Feb 8 elections produced a hung national assembly in the country.
Earlier, late night on Tuesday, in a joint presser at Zardari House, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari announced that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif, 72, will assume the role of the prime minister once again.
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Similarly, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, 68, will be the joint candidate for the president’s office.
"The PPP and PML-N have achieved the required number, and (now) we are in a position to form the government," Bilawal told reporters.
To form a government in Pakistan, a party must win 133 out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly or the lower house of Parliament.
He said former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party-backed independent candidates and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) failed to achieve a simple majority in Parliament to form a government in the Centre.
Bilawal hoped that the news of the political alliance with the PML-N to form a coalition government would lead to a positive market response as the cash-strapped country faced a hung Parliament after the elections.
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Independent candidates - a majority backed by 71-year-old Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party -- won 93 National Assembly seats.
The PML-N won 75 seats while the PPP came third with 54 seats. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has 17 seats.
