ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s two major political parties are engaged in tense negotiations to reach a power-sharing formula to form the next coalition government and are expected to hold the final round of talks today, Tuesday, in Islamabad, one of their representatives confirmed on Monday.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari-led Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) agreed in principle to form a coalition in the center after voters gave a split mandate in the February 8 national polls.

Both parties have constituted separate committees to negotiate the deal as the PPP has already announced it would vote for the PML-N candidate for the prime ministerial slot but would not become part of the federal cabinet.

However, the PPP has announced to field its candidates for some constitutional positions in and out the national parliament, such as the speaker, chairman Senate, governors and the president.

The five rounds of talks have so far remained inconclusive, though both sides have expressed willingness to reach a consensus before the first session of the newly elected parliament convenes by the end of the month.

“The negotiations are underway positively and another round of talks will be held in the morning [Tuesday],” Senator Azam Nazir Tarar, a PMLN representative in the negotiations, told reporters after the meeting on Monday.

Asked about the PPP’s inclusion in the federal cabinet, he said: “Some issues like its inclusion are already settled.”

The PPP, however, said there was ample time available to finalize the coalition, adding the conversation about the party joining the federal cabinet was never part of the meeting agenda.

“The PPP is sticking to its stance that it will not ask the PML-N for ministries,” its representative, Qamar Zaman Kaira, told the media.

The PML-N, with Shehbaz Sharif being its nominee for the PM’s slot, has been struggling to form a coalition government with the PPP, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and other smaller parties as it failed to win a simple majority in the polls.

The PML-N emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly with 75 seats, but the biggest bloc in the house comprise of independent candidates backed by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party with over 90 seats.