ISLAMABAD, Nov 21, Reuter: Pakistani President Ghulam Ishaq Khan has put off naming a Prime Minister for several days until he was consulted Benazir Bhutto and the other party leaders.
The 73 year old Acting Head of State has asked to see Bhutto and her main rival, Punjab Chief Minister Nawaz Sharif, separately on Tuesday, an official statement on Sunday said.
Leaders of smaller parties which won national assembly seats in last Wednesday’s inconclusive elections were invited for the coming Wednesday and Thursday.
Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won 92 seats, 17 short of the 109 needed for an overall majority.
Sharif’s Islamic Democratic Alliance won 55, and independents and small parties totaled 68, including 10 from non-Moslem minorities. Two byelections are pending.
Sharif said the IDA was trying to put together a majority he told a news conference in Lahore that Ishaq Khan should wait until the new 237-member assembly had met.
The test will come when the new house elects its speaker. The side winning this crucial test should be invited to form the government,” he said.
Information Minister Ellahi Bakhsh Soomro told reporters shortly after submitting his resignation that he agreed.
“I should say it would take another 10-15 days for the house t6 meet,” he said.
“That would be the right time for the President to assess the strength of the parties.”
Article extracted from this publication >> November 25, 1988
