Vawda sees coalition govt lasting not more than 18 months

New government will have bumpy start owing to financial matters and public unrest

KARACHI:

Former Federal Minister Faisal Vawda has said that it is a miracle that a coalition government has been formed, but it is unlikely to last for more than 18 months.

People in the coalition government have settled for the provinces for now, but they will come to the ministries in the next phase, Vawda said talking on a TV channel.

He said that the trust of the coalition government is that all provinces have been divided among themselves one by one. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has K-P, Balochistan, and Sindh are with Pakistan Peoples Party, and Pakistan Muslim Leage -Nawaz (PML-N) has Punjab.

Ironically, everyone's focus is on their provinces and the top national leadership is ignoring the federation, Vawda said. "The expired and incompetent leaders are coming to us again, they are coming to ruin what remains of the country rather than to repair and build it."

Politics makes strange bedfellows, using this idiom as the basis of his argument, the former minister said the honeymoon period of the coalition government will be short, "they will be unhappy with the budget, there will be some friction before the IMF deal and then there will be breakup."

He said political analysts have put the duration of the federal coalition government at two years. Some claim the coalition will be beyond two and a half years, but this is among the impossibilities, however, "I believe the federal coalition government will last for a year and a half."

He said that there are many reasons for this early demise, "the incoming government faces a debt repayment of $24 billion, but the reserves are of $2 billion."

He said the matters of the new government are unlikely to proceed smoothly, "there are press conferences against the government daily and people are on the streets."

The new government will have a bumpy start owing to financial matters and public unrest, Vawda said adding it would be a miracle if it can manage these issues.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2024.