Zardari active for seat adjustments to improve party’s standing in Punjab

PPP expects to perform good in Punjab in general elections.

ISLAMABAD    -    Pakistan People’s Party expects to perform better in the Punjab prov­ince in the upcoming general elec­tions after two failures in the pre­vious elections.

The PPP leadership understands the importance of Punjab in the elec­tions and has been concentrating on improving performance, close aides of the Bhutto family told The Nation.

This week PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had directed the party work­ers to prepare for elections following the Supreme Court verdict of elec­tions in Punjab and Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa to be held within 90 days.

Bilawal, who is also the Foreign Minister, is in Lahore to discuss the country’s overall political situation and the Supreme Court verdict.

Bilawal Bhutto said that whether the elections are held within three months or after that, his party is al­ways ready. He directed the party organisations and workers to pre­pare for the polls. The PPP chief also directed the PPP leadership to com­plete the listi0ng of candidates for national and provincial assemblies elections ‘in a week’. “Candidates who are performing well should be awarded tickets,” he added.

PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari is active, mainly for seat adjustments that could improve the party’s stand­ing in the province. “The Punjab elec­tions will be a big test for the PPP. They desperately need to do better,” said a close aide of the PPP leader­ship. Another PPP leader said the party was optimistic about the re­sults although they do not expect any miracles to happen.

Since its foundation in 1967, the PPP has been a major centre-left force in the country.

The PPP has been voted into pow­er on five separate occasions (1970, 1977, 1988, 1993 and 2008), while on 4 occasions (1990, 1997, 2002 and 2013) it emerged as the largest opposition party. There have been a total of four Prime Ministers from PPP. The PPP dominated the politics of Pakistan during the 1970s before Zia-ul-Haq’s takeover.

After the re-establishment of de­mocracy in 1988 following Ziaul Haq’s death, a two-party system de­veloped, consisting of the People’s Party and the Islami Jamhoori Itte­had, later succeeded by the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). The party served as the principal opposition to the Pervez Musharraf-led govern­ment from 1999 to 2008.

The party conceded defeat dur­ing the 2013 general elections, losing swathes of support in the Punjab Prov­ince where most of its base was lost to the emerging Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, although it retained its provincial gov­ernment in Sindh. In the 2018 general elections, for the first time in history, the party was able to neither form the federal government nor emerge as the largest party in opposition