In Pakistan, candidates of ex-Premier Imran Khan to merge with 2 other parties

KARACHI, Pakistan

Independent winning candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan will merge with two religiopolitical parties to claim stakes in federal and provincial governments, the PTI announced Tuesday.

Party spokesman Rauf Hassan told a news conference that candidates supported by his party will "form a coalition" with Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen, a Shia Muslim political group, at the federal level and in Punjab province.

It will also merge with the mainstream religiopolitical party Jamaat-e-Islami in northwestern Khyber Phaktunkhwa province, Hassan added.

In general elections last week, no single party in the South Asian nation was able to win enough seats to form a government on its own, triggering a flurry of coalition talks between the sides.