ISLAMABAD, 18 April 2008 — Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif plans to run in June for Pakistan’s Parliament, an aide said yesterday.
Sharif may be joined in the National Assembly by Asif Ali Zardari, the widower and political successor of Benazir Bhutto. A Zardari candidacy would re-ignite speculation that he wants to be prime minister.
Election officials barred Sharif from contesting parliamentary elections in February. The officials cited a court conviction against Sharif handed down after President Pervez Musharraf ousted his government in a 1999 military coup.
But Sharif’s party finished a strong second behind that of Bhutto and the two have formed a coalition government committed to cutting Musharraf’s powers and changing his US-backed counterterrorism policies.
Sadiqul Farooq, a senior member of Sharif’s party, said that the ex-premier was wrongly disqualified and forecast that authorities would allow his candidacy this time.
Entering Parliament would give Sharif a platform to step up his insistent calls for Musharraf to quit. Sharif is also pressing hard for the reinstatement of senior judges purged when Musharraf imposed a burst of emergency rule last year to prevent them from voiding his disputed re-election as president. The coalition has vowed to bring back the judges through a parliamentary resolution by next month, but has yet to explain how they will negotiate potential legal obstacles.
Election officials have postponed voting for eight parliamentary seats until June 18 because of problems including the deaths of candidates, including Bhutto, who was assassinated in December.
The Election Commission announced the schedule for the polls yesterday. Nomination papers would be filed between April 15 and May 6, scrutiny of nomination papers would take place from May 7 to May 13, and the last date for filing of appeals on acceptance or rejection of nomination papers is May 17.
Last date for deciding the appeals is May 24 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is May 26. Final list will be issued on May 26 and polling will be held on June 18.
Zardari became co-chairman of Bhutto’s party after the close of nominations for the February ballot, which cemented Pakistan’s return to democracy after years of military rule.
Only parliamentarians are eligible to become prime minister, and Zardari picked Yousaf Raza Gilani, a low-profile party loyalist, to head the coalition government.
But there has been persistent speculation in the Pakistani media that Zardari covets the premiership for himself.
Asked whether Zardari would run in a by-election, party spokesman Farhatullah Babar said yesterday that his leader would decide in the next two or three days. But a private TV channel reported Zardari will be contesting by-election from constituency NA-207. According to the report, Zardari will be arriving in Larkana on April 19 to submit his nomination papers on April 20. There are doubts about whether Zardari holds the bachelor’s degree required of all candidates.
‘Polls Not Completely Free, Fair’
Although the February elections were competitive and the results were accepted, there were enduring problems with the framework and conditions for election in the country, European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-IOM) said in its report issued on Wednesday.
Chief observer and member of the European Parliament Michael Gahler told a press conference the elections saw a pluralistic process in which a broad range of views were expressed and polling process achieved increased public confidence in comparison to previous elections.
“A more significant role was played in these elections by the media and civil society, including by providing greater scrutiny of the process,” he said.
However, the report said, there were serious problems with the framework and conditions in which the elections were held and a level playing field was not provided during the campaign, primarily as a result of abuse of state resources and bias in the state media in favor of the former ruling parties.
