ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — The two main opposition parties announced Thursday that they would work to form a coalition government, after dealing the party of President Pervez Musharraf a bruising defeat in this week's elections.
But it was unclear whether the groups would jointly seek to oust Musharraf in the wake of Monday's vote, which was widely viewed as a devastating verdict on his performance as Pakistan's leader.
Neither the Pakistan People's Party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto nor the Pakistan Muslim League-N, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, won enough votes to govern on its own. But together they have a comfortable parliamentary majority.
The parties appeared ready to paper over their differences, at least for the time being, in order to move swiftly to form a coalition.
But more talks lie ahead before the coalition's final composition is determined and a candidate for prime minister is put forward. Details of the tentative accord between the two sides also remained unclear.
"In principle we have agreed to stay together," Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, who leads her party, said at a news conference in Islamabad.
"We have to support each other," echoed Sharif, seated beside him.
According to Sharif, the two sides agreed in principle that dozens of judges fired late last year by Musharraf should be reinstated. The Supreme Court was poised to rule on the validity of Musharraf's election to a second presidential term when he declared a state of emergency in November and ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, among others.
Zardari has said that the new parliament should decide whether to bring back the deposed jurists, a step that could cause complications for him as well as Musharraf. Zardari still faces corruption charges dating back to Bhutto's two terms as prime minister, when he served in her Cabinet.
The two opposition leaders also left ambiguous whether they would push for the impeachment of Musharraf, whom the United States has considered a crucial ally despite his deep unpopularity at home.
Sharif, who was overthrown and jailed by Musharraf in 1999 before being sent into exile, declared anew that the former general must step down or be forced out.
Zardari, however, has not ruled out allowing Musharraf to serve out his five-year term as president. He appeared to indicate, however, that his party would not ally itself with the remnants of Musharraf's.
