PPP and PML-N in talks for forming coalition govt in Pakistan: What is the parties’ relationship like?

Notably, the announcement of results has been delayed beyond normal, leading to speculation about vote rigging. Both PML-N and former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, have declared victory.

It isn’t as if PML-N and PPP would come together for the first time to form a coalition government in the Centre. The two parties have done so back in 2008 and 2022. Here is a look at the circumstances that brought PML-N and PPP together previously.

A united front against Pervez Musharraf

In 2006, PML-N’s chief Nawaz and PPP’s leader Benazir Bhutto decided to band together against then-President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf had come to power after orchestrating a military coup in 1999. Although he had organised national elections in 2002, he sidelined the PML-N and PPP by forming splinter parties, including PML-Q and PPP-Patriot group, to form a military-sponsored government at the Centre.

Nawaz and Benazir signed the ‘Charter of Democracy’ (CoD). The 36 points of the documents outlined procedures to re-establish civilian democratic rule. For instance, “outlined the procedure by which judges should be appointed in order to remain independent… It prescribed that the ISI should be accountable to the prime minister and that defence budget should be placed before Parliament ‘for debate and approval,’” according to The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience by Christophe Jaffrelot.

Moreover, Nawaz and Benazir committed to neither joining a military-sponsored government nor soliciting the support of the military to come into power, Jaffrelot wrote.

It was, however, not Nawaz and Benazir, who paved the way for Musharraf’s exit. The reign of the President came to an end after he clashed with the Supreme Court and particularly Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Musharraf had to declare a state of emergency in 2007 and was forced to announce national elections due to protests and external pressure.

The polls were postponed after Benazir was assassinated on December 27, 2007. They eventually took place on February 18, 2008, and Musharraf’s PML-Q came a distant second — PPP got the most seats and went on to form the government with PML-N. The two parties agreed to implement CoD.

Benazir’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was chosen as the President and another PPP leader Yousaf Raza Gilani became the Prime Minister.

The coalition of PPP and PML-N lasted for a few months, though. The main reason was Zardari’s hesitance in reinstating Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was suspended during Musharraf’s rule for criticising the military’s repression in Pakistan. According to Jaffrelot, Zardari didn’t immediately reinstate Chaudhry as he probably feared that the judge would cancel the amnesty he had won from Musharraf before the general left office. The PPP leader had spent eight years in jail from 1996 (after the fall of Benazir Bhutto’s government) till 2004, he added.

“Zardari’s reluctance to honour a commitment he had made—especially to Nawaz Sharif—prompted the former prime minister to pull his PML(N) out of the government, without for all that joining the opposition,” Jaffrelot wrote. The coalition government, led by the PPP, continued with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the Awami National Party (ANP) and independent members.

Alliance revived to thwart Imran Khan juggernaut

In the 2018 general elections, PTI wiped out the PPP and PML-N, and Imran became the Prime Minister. The elections were widely believed to be rigged by the military — Imran came to be known as “laadla”.

To politically isolate Imran and undermine the credibility of the military, the PPP and PML-N again joined forces in September 2020. The two parties formed a “collaborative anti-government coalition” called the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which included some smaller parties also. The PPP withdrew from the coalition next year due to “poor relations” among parties, but continued to cooperate, according to Politics in Pakistan 2022-23 and upcoming elections, a report by John Curtis and published by the UK’s House of Commons Library.

The PDM finally succeeded in overthrowing Imran in April 2022 following a vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly. It happened after Imran fell out with the military. Their relationship soured when Imran tried to block the appointment of the Army’s pick Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum as the new ISI chief, instead backing Lt Gen Faiz Hameed to continue.

The PDM decided to side with the military and make Imran irrelevant in the electoral fray for a reason. “The irony is that Khan is a victim of political vindictiveness he had resorted to during his tenure as the PM. His disqualification bears resemblance to the Pakistan High Court’s 2017 decision to disqualify Nawaz Sharif… Sharif’s daughter and brother Shehbaz Sharif were also in the custody of the NAB (National Accountability Bureau) during Khan’s tenure as PM… Top PPP leaders were incriminated in a money-laundering scam, by accounts because Khan wanted to push them out of the electoral fray,” Ajay Darshan Behera wrote for The Indian Express in August 2023.

Subsequently, Shehbaz of PML-N was sworn in as the new PM — Nawaz was at the time in London in self-exile. Meanwhile, PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto, son of Benazir, was made the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Although the PPP wasn’t technically part of the PDM, the coalition government that was established after Imran’s exit was called PDM.

The PPP and PML-N did not fight the latest elections together. However, they might be compelled to form an alliance for the third time as so far no party has emerged as a clear winner and the military wouldn’t allow Imran to assume power.