IT wasn’t quite akin to turning back the clock to the first half of 2008, but the amicable meeting between President Zardari and prime minister-to-be Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Chinese premier’s visit is another small step towards a smooth transition of power in Islamabad. Mr Sharif had already made clear that neither is he averse to taking the prime ministerial oath of office from Mr Zardari nor is he interested in cutting short the president’s fixed term — and both public reassurances have gone some way in quelling the possibility of political discord and a constitutional crisis at the very outset of Mr Sharif’s incoming government. Now, in publicly meeting Mr Zardari at the presidency, the incoming prime minister has through his actions raised another possibility: could the PML-N and PPP work together on key structural areas in the next parliament?

There is a practical necessity here that has been overlooked in the aftermath of the PML-N’s unexpected success, at least in terms of the margin of victory, on May 11. The upper house of par-liament, the Senate, is locked in until March 2015 and its present configuration will give the PML-N much to think about: with a dozen senators compared to the PPP’s 45-odd senators, the PML-N will find it impossible to pass legislation on its own in the upper house. There are some important caveats to this: the Senate is not required for the election of the prime minister; it does not have a binding vote on the federal budget; and Article 70(3) of the Constitution allows for a joint sitting of parliament to circumvent a recalcitrant Senate on legislative matters. However, given that one of Mr Sharif’s explicit goals is the strengthening of parliament, following proper form and normal procedure in legislative matters will be an important benchmark — and for this, the PPP’s near-majority in the upper house will surely need to be kept on side by the PML-N when it comes to key debates, resolutions and pieces of legislation.

In fact, the PML-N and PPP need only revisit recent history to find common ground between themselves: the Charter of Democracy signed by Benazir Bhutto and Mr Sharif in 2006 still has important aspects left to be fulfilled, particularly when it comes to establishing civilian control over national security and foreign policies. A formal PML-N and PPP alliance is unlikely in the extreme but in their common commitment to the democratic project, there is some room for a common approach on some matters.