The Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) recent steps will create tensions among the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition partners. The PPP is one of the main coalition partners of the Shehbaz Sharif-led PDM.
The tensions between these coalition partners erupted when the PPP showed its concerns over the delimitation exercise. Last week, the Pakistan election body, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), said that the process of fresh delimitation of National and provincial assembly constituencies would be completed by December 14.
This means that the Pakistan elections will be delayed and the new date shall be more than a month beyond the constitutionally-mandated deadline for conducting general elections.
The PPP said that it decided to approve the digital census results at the Council of Common Interests (CCI) only because they were assured that the move will not delay the Pakistan elections.
“The Constitution is supreme and there should be general elections within 90 days. There’s no ambiguity and doubt,” PPP leader Nayyar Bukhari, who also served as a former Pakistan Bar Council general secretary, was quoted as saying by the Dawn.
“We are only worried that these caretakers shouldn’t become chair-takers. You are here only to invest your energy and time for the timely elections in three months,” PPP leader Sherry Rehman was quoted as saying.
An editorial by the Dawn pointed out that the PPP “has now decided to take a forceful stand on the matter” despite PDM’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) (JUI-F) and Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) “throwing their weight behind the ECP’s decision to go for fresh delimitations”.
“This may push the PPP and the beleaguered PTI into the same corner,” the editorial pointed out.
It should also be noted that the PPP joined the masses in protesting against the highly inflated electricity bills in Karachi. PPP workers burnt tyres and electricity bills and party seniors called on workers to join the demonstrations.
These actions have surprised the PDM, especially Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N.
Ahead of the Pakistan elections, it is not a good look for the PDM when one of its coalition partners decides to join the masses to protest against one of the main members of the coalition.
The PPP leaders admitted that they could not afford to stay away from the public protests for a long time because it would send the wrong message.
Meanwhile, a famous face who is now sidelined in the PPP surfaced during the group’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting. Aitzaz Ahsan fell out of favour with the PPP leadership but when he appeared for the meeting this week this sparked speculation if he would be the tool to bring Imran Khan and the Bhutto-Zardaris together. Ahsan is known to be sympathetic to Imran Khan and has expressed his support for him on several occasions. Only time will tell if he will be glue to bind PTI and PPP together.