ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s prime minister-in-waiting Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and opposition parties are struggling to consolidate their position before the National Assembly’s inaugural session on Monday, in which all elected members will take oath of their seats.
Election for the coveted slots of Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Prime Minister will take place in the coming days.
All the parliamentary parties are jostling for a show of strength to fill these slots through election in the House.
The PTI leadership has been trying to build a coalition for the federal government since the July 25 polls as the party failed to win a simple majority to form the government. The party has now mustered enough numbers in the National Assembly to elect Khan as premier, but formation of an impressive cabinet and economic team still remains a challenge for it.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, the PTI has emerged as the largest party with 158 seats in a 342-member National Assembly – but is still short of 14 members to prove its majority in the House.
In the next five years to retain a simple majority in the Lower House of the Parliament and counter any move of a joint opposition, the PTI will remain dependent on its seven allied partners – Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, the Pakistan Muslim League, the Balochistan National Party, the Balochistan Awami Party, the Grand Democratic Alliance, the Awami Muslim League and the Jamhoori Wattan Party.
All the seven allied parties of the PTI collectively have 27 seats in the National Assembly, enough to support the ruling coalition to run its day-to-day functions smoothly, but only if they all refrain from creating troubles for the government.
The PTI has still not decided about the cabinet and economic teams.
The party has held several sessions of discussion and brainstorming for the past two weeks at the party chairman's palatial residence in Islamabad, but they have yet to announce the cabinet members.
The party has, however, nominated a loyalist for position of chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where it has won a two-thirds majority in the elections.
Nominations for Speaker National Assembly and Governor Sindh have also been announced, but these announcements are least reflective of the party’s policy to run affairs of the state.
Azhar Laghari, head of the PTI’s public relations department, said that deliberations are still under way to fill key positions in public departments, including the cabinet members who will be responsible for improving the governance of their respective departments.
“Formation of the cabinet and a robust economic team are not less than a challenge for the party that is fully committed to set new precedents of good governance in Pakistan,” he told Arab News.
“Imran Khan is committed to appoint the best of the best people and all the nominations will be finalized and announced in the next couple of days,” he added.
Political analysts, however, say it is a test of Imran Khan’s leadership to have effective control of all the government functionaries and all those “electable candidates” of the party who won the polls on the PTI’s ticket.
“In parliamentary politics, it has never been easy for any party to run its functions smoothly, especially in a case when it does not enjoy even a simple majority in the House,” Professor Tahir Malik, political analyst and academic, told Arab News. “The PTI will have to develop a good working relationship with all parliamentary parties, including the opposition, to deliver on its election promises,” he added.
On the other hand, opposition parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the Pakistan People's Party and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal have also been finalizing their strategy to give, as per its claims, a tough time to the government inside and outside the parliament.
The PML-N, party of the jailed ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, has 82 seats in the National Assembly, followed by the PPP with 53 and the MMA with 15 seats. The opposition alliance comprising these parties has decided to file its joint candidates for speaker, deputy speaker and prime minister to face the PTI.
The alliance is, though, not in a position to win any of the coveted seats in the House because of its low numerical strength.
Senator Mushahidullah Khan, secretary information PML-N, said that all the opposition parties have united on a one-point agenda of protesting against the “rigged elections and a puppet government.”
“The opposition party’s alliance is committed to expose rigging in the polls through protest at all available forums,” he told Arab News. “We have no personal agenda but want to strengthen democracy in the country.”
Rasul Bukhsh Rais, political analyst, said that alliance of the opposition parties is temporary and they will not be able to create any major trouble for the government as long as the PTI keeps working along with its coalition partners.
“All parties in the opposition alliance have different ideological leanings and they have different interests in the political system,” he told Arab News. “The opposition alliance can make an impact only if it comes up with some viable suggestions to fix the system and improve governance.”
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Imran Khan’s PTI, opposition parties struggle to consolidate their position in parliament
Imran Khan’s PTI, opposition parties struggle to consolidate their position in parliament
- Imran Khan’s party has 158 seats in a 342-member National Assembly – short of 14 members to prove simple majority
- Opposition parties vow to give tough time to “puppet government” through protests inside and outside parliament
US, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators to meet in UAE for security talks
MOSCOW: Ukrainian, US and Russian officials will hold security talks in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, the Kremlin said, following a meeting of top US negotiators with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on a US-drafted plan to end the Ukraine war.
Diplomatic efforts to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have gained pace in recent months, though Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a post-war settlement.
US negotiators, led by envoy Steve Witkoff, talked with the Russian leader in Moscow into the early hours of Friday, according to a Kremlin statement.
Kremlin diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters their discussions had been “useful in every respect.”
Witkoff and the US team are next flying to Abu Dhabi, where talks are expected to continue.
A Russian delegation, headed by General Igor Kostyukov, director of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, will also head there “in the coming hours,” according to Ushakov.
“It was agreed that the first meeting of a trilateral working group on security issues will take place today in Abu Dhabi,” Ushakov added.
“We are genuinely interested in resolving (the conflict) through political and diplomatic means,” he said, but added: “Until that happens, Russia will continue to achieve its objectives... on the battlefield.”
Witkoff previously said he believed the two sides were “down to one issue,” without elaborating.
Video published by the Kremlin showed a smiling Putin shaking hands with Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum.
The high-stakes meeting came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a draft deal was “nearly, nearly ready” and that he and Trump had agreed on the issue of post-war security guarantees.
He also said the UK and France had already committed to forces on the ground.
Zelensky said Ukraine’s delegation at the UAE meeting would be led by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov, and would include Lt. Gen. Andriy Gnatov, the chief of staff of Ukrainian armed forces.
Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal.
But Kyiv has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow and says it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from launching a renewed assault.
- Europe ‘fragmented’ -
The full details of the upcoming talks in the United Arab Emirates have not been released, and it is not clear whether the Russian and Ukrainian officials will meet face-to-face.
Zelensky said these talks would last two days.
Trump repeated on Wednesday his oft-stated belief that Putin and Zelensky were close to a deal.
“I believe they’re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done. And if they don’t, they’re stupid — that goes for both of them,” he said after delivering a speech at Davos.
Zelensky, at his address in Davos, blasted the EU’s lack of “political will” in countering Putin in a fiery address.
“Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” he said.
Trump’s dramatic foreign policy pivots including a recent bid to take over Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — have stirred worries in Europe about whether Washington can be trusted as a reliable security partner.
In his speech, Zelensky criticized Europe for pinning hopes on the United States defending them in case of aggression.
“Europe looks lost trying to convince the US President to change,” Zelensky said.
Russian strikes this week have left most of Kyiv without electricity, with residents of 4,000 buildings without heat in sub-zero temperatures.
Russia, which launched its Ukraine offensive in February 2022, says its strikes are aimed at energy infrastructure fueling Ukraine’s “military-industrial complex.”
Kyiv says the strikes are a war crime designed to wear down its civilian population.
Diplomatic efforts to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have gained pace in recent months, though Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a post-war settlement.
US negotiators, led by envoy Steve Witkoff, talked with the Russian leader in Moscow into the early hours of Friday, according to a Kremlin statement.
Kremlin diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters their discussions had been “useful in every respect.”
Witkoff and the US team are next flying to Abu Dhabi, where talks are expected to continue.
A Russian delegation, headed by General Igor Kostyukov, director of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, will also head there “in the coming hours,” according to Ushakov.
“It was agreed that the first meeting of a trilateral working group on security issues will take place today in Abu Dhabi,” Ushakov added.
“We are genuinely interested in resolving (the conflict) through political and diplomatic means,” he said, but added: “Until that happens, Russia will continue to achieve its objectives... on the battlefield.”
Witkoff previously said he believed the two sides were “down to one issue,” without elaborating.
Video published by the Kremlin showed a smiling Putin shaking hands with Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and White House adviser Josh Gruenbaum.
The high-stakes meeting came just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a draft deal was “nearly, nearly ready” and that he and Trump had agreed on the issue of post-war security guarantees.
He also said the UK and France had already committed to forces on the ground.
Zelensky said Ukraine’s delegation at the UAE meeting would be led by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov, and would include Lt. Gen. Andriy Gnatov, the chief of staff of Ukrainian armed forces.
Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal.
But Kyiv has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow and says it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from launching a renewed assault.
- Europe ‘fragmented’ -
The full details of the upcoming talks in the United Arab Emirates have not been released, and it is not clear whether the Russian and Ukrainian officials will meet face-to-face.
Zelensky said these talks would last two days.
Trump repeated on Wednesday his oft-stated belief that Putin and Zelensky were close to a deal.
“I believe they’re at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done. And if they don’t, they’re stupid — that goes for both of them,” he said after delivering a speech at Davos.
Zelensky, at his address in Davos, blasted the EU’s lack of “political will” in countering Putin in a fiery address.
“Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” he said.
Trump’s dramatic foreign policy pivots including a recent bid to take over Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory — have stirred worries in Europe about whether Washington can be trusted as a reliable security partner.
In his speech, Zelensky criticized Europe for pinning hopes on the United States defending them in case of aggression.
“Europe looks lost trying to convince the US President to change,” Zelensky said.
Russian strikes this week have left most of Kyiv without electricity, with residents of 4,000 buildings without heat in sub-zero temperatures.
Russia, which launched its Ukraine offensive in February 2022, says its strikes are aimed at energy infrastructure fueling Ukraine’s “military-industrial complex.”
Kyiv says the strikes are a war crime designed to wear down its civilian population.
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