Daily Times

On Friday, June 22, the national assembly with an overwhelming majority elected Raja Pervez Ashraf, the nominee of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and allied parties as the prime minister of the country. Raja Pervez Ashraf was elected as the member of the national assembly from Gujjar Khan and had been secretary-general of the party, besides being a cabinet member under the former prime minister. The move was in response to the disqualification of the former Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani by the Supreme Court on the basis of his conviction in a contempt case on April 26 this year. Raja Pervez Ashraf scored 211 votes against the tally of 89 votes gathered by his rival, Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) out of 300 present members of the House. The swearing in ceremony was held the same evening in the Presidency, where the newly elected prime minister took oath from the president. Chiefs of all the three services and the heads of allied parties attended the ceremony. After receiving guard of honour, the newly elected prime minister has assumed his functions with a cabinet retaining most of the colleagues of former premier as its members with a little change in the portfolios they held previously. The whole process was so prompt, smooth and orderly that it must have disappointed those who were expecting a big upheaval in the wake of disqualification and subsequent removal of the former prime minister by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Whatever the opposition political parties may contend on the choice of Raja Pervez Ashraf for the prime ministerial slot by the ruling coalition there can be no denying the fact that the whole exercise took place strictly in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, and in the true spirit of parliamentary democracy. Credit for this goes not only to the members of parliament, especially those belonging to the ruling coalition, but also to the Supreme Court, which in the interim order had issued clear directions to the president to take appropriate constitutional steps to maintain the continuity of the democratic process. The Supreme Court’s directions were meant to underline the imperative for following the constitution and pre-empt any extra-constitutional adventurist step during the intervening period. Contrary to the fears spread by the doomsday theorists, there was no breakdown of the system and the parliament acted promptly, frustrating the hopes of the detractors of democracy looking for the collapse of post-2008 elections political dispensation. Bracing the most serious crisis in the last more than four years, the PPP and its allies put up an impressive show of unity by reaching a consensus in the election of the new leader of the house in the national assembly. In a sharp contrast to the solidarity shown by the coalitional partners, the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) stands alone. Its nominee could not get even a single vote of any other political party having representation in the national assembly except those of its own. Outside the parliament, the PML-N continues to receive hammer blows from the Pakistan Tehrik Insaf’s leader (PTI) Imran Khan, who in a recent statement has reiterated his earlier stance of not making a common cause with Mian Nawaz Sharif. On the other hand, the PPP has succeeded in taking all its allies on board. It even succeeded in persuading Mauala Fazalur Rehman of Jamaat Ulema Islam-F to withdraw from the contest, making it a straight fight between the PPP-led coalition and the PML-N, in which the latter lost with a wide margin.

Does the contest for prime minister’s slot and its outcome portend a similar result for the main contestants in the next general elections? It is difficult to answer this question with emphatic affirmative or outright negative, as elections like war are unpredictable. But, one thing is certain. The PM L-N will be hard pressed to fight in the next elections on a two-prong front — one put up by the PTI, supported by the extremist religious parties and the other by the PPP and its allies.

The PPP seems to have emerged much stronger out of the latest crisis created by the disqualification of Mr Gilani. The crisis has led to the closing of ranks among the PPP workers around President Zardari and strengthening of alliance with the coalition partners. In Mr Gilani’s disqualification, it may have lost a prime minister; but it has not lost the right to rule for the remaining part of its five-year term. The pressure for early elections seems to have been dissipated. The PML-N and PTI were outdoing each other in pressing the demand for the removal of government and early elections. In order to achieve their objective they had during the last three years announced many a time the launching of a nation-wide movement and even a long march to force the government to call early elections. But each time they failed to bring the people out on the roads. The removal of Mr Gilani also failed to bring them any closer to their goal.

The installation of a new government under Prime Minister-elect Raja Pervez Ashraf is likely to shift the focus of political activities in the country by both government and opposition to electioneering. The leaders of the PPP have already told their workers that it is a year of election, and they should start preparations for that. The PML-N, MQM, PTI, ANP and JI have all addressed public rallies in different parts of the country in the recent past as part of their election campaign. President Zardari has however said that the elections would be held on their due date, which may fall late this year or early next year.

The writer is a professor of International Relations at Sargodha University. He can be reached at Rashid_khan192@yahoo.com