Pakistan election: PTI joins religious parties, PPP backs rival PMLN
Al JazeeraTwo leading parties announce separate coalition plans to help secure a majority needed to form a government after Pakistan’s contested polls. Islamabad, Pakistan – Five days after Pakistan’s general election, two opposing parties, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Peoples Party, have both announced plans to form a government – with the PTI allying with religious parties and the PPP forming a coalition with rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. In announcing the coalition plan on Tuesday, PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan said he had been mandated by Khan to approach all political parties other than the “PPP, PMLN and MQM”, or Muttahida Qaumi Movement. Khan has maintained he will not engage with three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s PMLN or former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s PPP, calling them “corrupt”. Coalition between PPP and PMLN Hours after the PTI’s announcement, the PPP and PMLN said at a press conference that they would form a new coalition and join with smaller parties to lead the country.