Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) prepared for talks on Thursday with Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) on a coalition that could topple President Musharraf.
The leaders of the two parties which won the most seats in Monday’s general elections are mulling an alliance after hammering President Pervez Musharraf’s backers at the polls.
With other smaller parties on their side, they are close to the two-thirds majority they would need to seek Musharraf’s impeachment.
President Musharraf has rejected calls to quit in the wake of his allies’ stunning defeat.
President Musharraf has extended an offer of cooperation to his rivals on Wednesday, calling for a “harmonious coalition” after the polls.
But his foes have shown little sign of wanting to work with him so far.
PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari told reporters he would meet Sharif on Thursday evening, “and we are going to find solutions to the problems of Pakistan.”
A PPP official said they were “going to discuss a potential coalition.”
With votes counted in 258 out of 272 constituencies, the PPP and PML-N had a combined total of 153 seats, the election commission said.
The former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and its allies together had 58.
Any coalition would likely include a moderate ethnic Pashtun movement that ousted religious parties in North West Frontier Province.
Zardari indicated any alliance could also bring on board Musharraf’s former allies Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Karachi to nudge it above the two-thirds mark.
Zardari said his party had decided he would not be prime minister in any coalition government.
He is not eligible to stand for the position because he is not a member of parliament, although he has the option of trying to enter the legislature in a by-election.
But key differences remain between the two main camps, focused on PML-N campaign promise that his first act in government would be to seek the restoration of Pakistan’s deposed top judge.
If Justice Chaudhry gets his job back he could overturn that result and deprive Musharraf of his job — the ideal revenge for Sharif, the man the then-General Musharraf ousted in 1999.
Party officials said the PPP was not keen on making any coalition deal that would involve a public commitment to bringing Justice Chaudhry back onto the scene.
Analysts say Musharraf will try to divide Zardari and Sharif and persuade Zardari to form a coalition with his own parties.
Benazir and President Musharraf had been having talks on a power-sharing deal before her assassination.