ISLAMABAD: Nine days after the elections in which the PML-N emerged as the largest party in the National Assembly, President Asif Ali Zardari extended an olive branch to the party on Monday by felicitating the prime minister in waiting, Nawaz Sharif.

The president also talked to ANP chairman Asfandyar Wali and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in connection with the May 11 polls.

“President Asif Ali Zardari telephoned Mian Nawaz Sharif and felicitated him on victory in elections,” his spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.

The president felicitated the people and all parties on participation in the elections paving way for the first democratic transition in the country. “The elections, followed by a smooth transfer of power in the coming days, will be remembered as a watershed in our political evolution and a triumph of the democratic ethos of the people and political parties.”

President Zardari and Mr Sharif are likely to meet informally, for the first time since the elections, on Wednesday, as the PML-N leader has been invited by the presidency to a lunch being hosted in honour of Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang.—Syed Irfan Raza