Asif Zardari likely to become President in coalition government

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is likely to become the President in the next expected coalition government of six parties, including PML-N, PPP, MQM-P, PML-Q, IPP, and BAP, sources said on Wednesday.

A day earlier, PPP chairman Bilawal Zardari announced that his party would not become a part of a coalition government, assuring support for PML-N's candidate for the prime minister slot.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the former foreign minister said his party will seek constitutional posts like Senate chairman and NA speaker.

Bilawal Bhutto withdrew his candidacy for the PM slot, however, he expressed his wish to see his father Asif Ali Zardari become the president.

"And I don't want him [Zardari] to become president because he is my father, but in this huge crisis country needs him. He only has the capacity to douse this fire," he asserted.

However, his father, addressing a press conference at night, announced that the PPP will become a part of the six-party coalition government. 

"We have decided to form a coalition government [to] steer the country out of the [prevailing] crises," the former president said while speaking at PML-Q's chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's residence in Islamabad.

The presser was attended by PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari, MQM-P Convener Dr Khalid Maqool Siddiqui, PML-Q Chief Chaudhry Shujaat, IPP President Abdul Aleem Khan, BAP leader Sadiq Sinjrani and others.

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif has named younger Shehbaz as a candidate for the premier's slot. Moreover, Maryam Nawaz has emerged as the candidate for the CM Punjab post.

However, the chances of Asif Zari becoming president rose after a newly formed coalition between six political parties.