Daily Times

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Wednesday decided to field joint candidates in the by-elections scheduled to be held on October 14, a private TV channel reported.

A meeting in this regard was held at the Parliament Lodges, attended by senior leaders of both the parties. During the meeting, a strategy for the upcoming by-elections was discussed and both the parties agreed on fielding joint candidates.

Talking to reporters following the meeting, PPP Secretary General Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said the ‘fruitful’ decision to field joint candidates was made following approval from the senior leadership of both the parties. He said the two parties have decided in principle to form the electoral alliance to defeat the political opponents. “Contacts with other parties are also being established [in this regard],” he added. Qamar Zaman Kaira, who also attended the meeting, said both parties will support each other’s candidates. “PML-N will back PPP’s candidates in Karachi while N-league’s candidates will be supported by our party in Punjab,” he added.

The grand opposition alliance formed by 11 parties soon after the July 25 elections had fallen apart within weeks following the PPP’s refusal to vote for PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif against PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the election of the prime minister despite agreeing on a formula during a meeting of the multiparty conference. The cracks within the opposition ranks deepened when the PPP unilaterally nominated Aitzaz Ahsan as the presidential candidate, drawing the ire of other opposition parties.

Published in Daily Times, October 4^th 2018.