The Hindu : Front Page : Opposition parties sweep polls in Pakistan

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Wednesday, Feb 20, 2008
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Front Page

Front Page

Opposition parties sweep polls in Pakistan

Nirupama Subramanian

Musharraf suffers big setback; Zardari stakes claim to form government at the Centre with the help of allies

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf came under renewed political pressure on Tuesday following the rout of his ally, the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), in an election widely seen as a referendum against him but the hung verdict appeared to keep his prospects open.

Single largest party

The Pakistan People’s Party emerged as the single largest party followed closely by the Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League (N). The two have a simple majority to form a government but there is no certainty about this yet.

Most results had been declared by Tuesday evening. The PPP led with 87 seats out of 272, followed by 66 for the PML(N), and 38 for the PML (Q). Among the smaller parties, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement won 19 seats and the Pakhtun nationalist Awami National Party got 10 seats. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a religious coalition which won 59 seats in 2002, was reduced to just three this time.

At a press conference following a central executive committee meeting of the PPP, co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari staked the party’s claim to form the government at the Centre with the help of allies. The party is in a position to form the Sindh provincial government by itself, and will play an important role in the coalition governments that the results in the other three provinces necessitate.

“We intend to make government in all four provinces and at the Centre, so we will act as the government-in-waiting with our allies,” Mr. Zardari said. “Our endeavour and our policy is to form a national consensus government that will take along all political forces.”

Mr. Zardari said his party’s aim was to strengthen Parliament along with all other democratic forces and not to strengthen a “dictator.”

In a statement, the PPP recalled that General (retd.) Musharraf had offered to quit if that was what the majority of the people wanted, and pointed to the election result as a verdict against him.

At a separate press conference, Mr. Sharif pointed to the election result as the people’s desire to see General Musharraf resign.

But despite the apparent anti-Musharraf sentiments in both parties, it is still far from clear whether the two can resolve their differences to join hands to form the government.

Mr. Sharif said the PML(N) would fulfil its election pledge to reinstate the judges ousted in the November 2007 emergency, and to reverse all constitutional changes made by General Musharraf.

“I invite all democratic forces to sit with us and rid Pakistan of dictatorship once and for all,” he said, adding that he and the PPP leader were to meet on Thursday for discussions.

Another PML (N) leader, Javed Hashmi, said in blunter language that the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary and the removal of General Musharraf would be his party’s preconditions for joining a coalition government, even though impeachment of the President required a two-thirds majority in Parliament that the PML(N) and the PPP together did not have.

Asked about the call for General Musharraf to quit, Mr. Zardari was ambiguous: “I think … the government of the day will find a way to work with the Parliament. Mr. Nawaz Sharif is also going to be with us in the Parliament and we intend to take him and we intend to take power from every source and give it back to the Parliament.”

Indicating different priorities, he emphasised that the PPP condition for a coalition was that “those friends who will form the government with us” must support the party’s demand for a U.N.-backed international probe into PPP leader Benazir Bhutto’s killing.

He said the party had not yet decided its prime ministerial candidate. Among the parties that the PPP would get in touch with for support is the Awami National Party, he said.