Sharif Party to Hold Talks With Rival on Pakistan Coalition

  • Former premier says party will speak with Bhutto Zardari group
  • No single party likely to win a majority in contentious polls

Nawaz Sharif

Photographer: Betsy Joles/Bloomberg
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Nawaz Sharif said his party will seek talks with rival Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s group on forming a coalition in Pakistan, potentially breaking the deadlock as a contentious election in the South Asian country headed for a hung parliament.

Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz will speak today with Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party, the veteran politician Sharif told cheering supporters in a speech where he claimed victory. Bhutto Zardari, 35, is a scion of the Bhutto dynasty, while Sharif is a three-time former premier who returned from exile in London last year and was acquitted of corruption charges, paving the way for him to contest the election.