Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) on Tuesday decided to vote for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) nominee Nawaz Sharif in the election for the post of leader of the house (prime minister), scheduled to be held on Wednesday (today). This was decided by JUI-F's core committee which met under the party's chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Later, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that a delegation of PML-N had requested his party to vote for Nawaz Sharif in the election for the post of Prime Minister.
There are three candidates in the run for the post of prime minister, including PML-N's Nawaz Sharif‚ Makhdoom Amin Fahim of PPPP and Makhdoom Javed Hashmi of PTI. The JUI-F has a total of 15 members in the lower house of parliament. In response‚ Maulana Fazl said that his party's core committee had decided to vote for Nawaz Sharif as a goodwill gesture, adding that his party had displayed the same gesture in the elections for speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly.
He dispelled the impression that JUI-F had demanded ministries from PML-N for joining the federal government, adding that the party had forwarded its priorities for joining the government. He said that progress had been made during talks between the two parties, insisting that in principle, there were no differences between the two parties. The JUI-F chief also said that no decision had yet been made to join the PML-N government.