KARACHI, 30 March — The two main political parties — the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) have begun to mobilize their forces to prepare in earnest for the forthcoming elections. While these two parties are working to get their party machinery in order, the leaders of both the parties — archrivals before the installation of the President Pervez Musharraf’s government, are also trying to work out an electoral understanding in order to come back to power.
Both the PPP and the PML(N) are members of the greater Alliance for Restoration of Democracy, and as such will avoid pitting candidates against each other. For the present, they are trying to build on this understanding by concentrating on the boundaries announced for the national and provincial assemblies, with PML(N) chief Nawaz Sharif hoping to gain PPP support for at least 30 selected seats in Punjab.
The PML(N) has called on its loyalists to support PPP candidates against those people who broke away from the party to form another group. The PPP, meanwhile, has already called on its party workers and supporters to join the proposed April 4 rally in Larkana.
Amid this activity, PPP leader Benazir Bhutto has named some important candidates to run in the October polls for the national and provincial assembly and has directed them to start electioneering.
PPP is already priming for her return, saying that she will most likely contest from the Larkana constituency.
Sources in PPP say that she has finalized the names of candidates for some constituencies. Naheed Khan, the political secretary to Benazir, has been nominated as the candidate from the home constituency of Nusrat Bhutto, Benazir’s mother, which is considered a safe seat.
“The detained spouse of Benazir, Asif Zardari, will run for two seats each in the Sindh Assembly and the National Assembly,” an official of the party said yesterday.
PPP sources said Zardari would run for the National Assembly from any constituency in Punjab, while he has been confirmed as the party candidate from Lyari constituency in Karachi.
Other party leaders who have been given tickets from the Sindh province include Safdar Abbasi, Sultan Chandio, Khurshid Shah, Qaim Ali Shah and Nisar Khuhro. Those approved from Punjab include Aitzaz Ahsan, Misbahur Rehman, Qasim Zia, Naveed Chaudhry — all to contest from Lahore district while Raza Rabbani and Rana Aftab have been named the party candidates from Faisalabad district.
