ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's surprising election results have pushed the parties of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari into coalition talks that may lead to them splitting the prime minister's five-year term.
Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was widely expected to win last Thursday's elections as the apparent preference of the powerful military establishment. But the strong performance of independent candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan has prompted a scramble to forge a workable coalition between the PML-N and Bhutto Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
