ISLAMABAD – Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing met Imran Khan, who will assume the charge of Prime Minister on 11 August, at Bani Gala on Monday.
The Chinese Ambassador congratulated Imran Khan on the victory of his party in the parliamentary elections of Pakistan held on July 25.
The Chinese envoy, while presenting felicitations on behalf of his government to the prime minister-in-waiting, reiterated Beijing’s desire to strengthen cooperation with Islamabad in all sectors.
China last week said it was ready to work with the new government in Pakistan after Imran Khan’s PTI scored a comfortable victory in the general election.
In a post-election address to the nation, Imran pledged to tackle corruption and touched on promises to strengthen and improve Pakistan’s relationship with neighboring countries, including China.
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“We will strengthen and improve our relations with China. We want to work towards success of CPEC. We also want to send teams to learn poverty alleviation from China,” the star cricketer-turned-politician said.
The PTI scooped up 16.86 million votes in a better-than-expected performance in the General Elections 2018, trouncing the party of jailed former premier Nawaz Sharif, which finished second with 12.89 million votes in the general elections 2018 that were held on July 25.
PTI’s 116 seats put Imran Khan short of the 21 required for an assembly majority, meaning he is likely to need a multi-party coalition with religious parties and independents to form a government. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have bagged 64 and 43 seats respectively.
A party is required to get at least 137 of the 272 general seats of the National Assembly to form the government. If a party manages to get 137 seats in the general elections, it can easily surpass the magical number of 172 with the inclusion of the members to be elected on the seats reserved for women and minorities.
Without the required majority, the PTI is relying on independents as well as parties, like the PML-Q, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) in addition to its natural ally, Sheikh Rasheed.
There are also reports of a possible alliance with MQM-Pakistan (MQM-P) which has six seats in the house. PTI won’t find allies in PPP and PTI because of the bitter rivalry.
On Thursday, 65-year-old former cricket star addressed the nation and had said: “We were successful and we were given a mandate,” adding in a conciliatory note that there would be “no political victimisation” of his opponents in the future.
At least 12,570 candidates contested for 577 provincial and 272 national assemblies in Wednesday’s polls. Other than the independent candidates, there are as many as 106 political parties whose candidates faced off others in their respective constituencies.
