ISLAMABAD: The schism between two main opposition parties – the PML-N and the PPP – over the Senate’s opposition leader’s office expanded on Friday, when five opposition parties, including the PML-N, voted to create a new coalition of 27 senators in the upper house of parliament.
After the PPP named its stalwart Yusuf Raza Gilani as Senate opposition leader, seemingly in defiance of what had previously been decided upon in a PDM conference, significant disagreements arose between the groups – all parts of an anti-government coalition, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
According to reports, leaders of eight opposition parties met in Islamabad on Friday and decided to send “show cause notices” to the PPP and the ANP for defying the PDM’s decision.
The eight parties have agreed to first give a chance to the PPP and the ANP to provide an explanation of their position.
However, if they fail to satisfy then they will be expelled from the alliance.
Five Senate opposition parties–the PML-N, JUI-F, PkMAP, and BNP-Mengal – declared late Friday night that they would form a new opposition bloc.
According to the official release, the meeting also agreed to contact the PDM president to ask the PPP and ANP “why they took votes from BAP – the Balochistan Awami Party.”
