Daily Times

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has decided to nominate senior leader Aitzaz Ahsan for the post of president, sources said.

An official announcement in this regard will be made after consultation with other opposition parties, sources added.

PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari also took Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman into confidence over the party’s decision and requested him to play a role in convincing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to support Ahsan as a presidential candidate, sources said.

However, PML-N leader Mushahidullah Sunday said that the party won’t support the PPP candidate.

Relations between the PPP and PML-N have been tense since the former refused to support Shehbaz Sharif as candidate for prime minister and abstained from voting in the Lower House, making his contest against Imran Khan a one-sided affair.

Ties continued to sour after the PPP withdrew its support to the PML-N, with reports suggesting that the latter was seeking to oust PPP leader Sherry Rehman from her position as leader of the opposition in the Senate and attempting to replace her with Raja Zafarul Haq.

The PPP also abstained from voting earlier in the election for Punjab Assembly speaker and deputy speaker, and in the election of Punjab chief minister, which PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz lost to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Usman Buzdar by 27 votes.

It might be mentioned that the PTI has nominated Arif Alvi as its candidate for president. The presidential election is set to take place on September 4.

Published in Daily Times, August 20^th 2018.