LAHORE, PAKISTAN, Oct 20 Reuter: The battle lines in next month’s Pakistani elections are emerging from a fog of political maneuvering midnight bargaining sessions and constituency horse trading.
On one side is Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), on the other a new, broad alliance embracing Islamic radicals, the political heirs of President Mohammad ZiaUlHag and conservative landowners.
“The choice before the nation is clear now,” Ghafoor Ahmad, secretary general of the Anti-Bhutto grouping, told reporters.
“There are 82 election symbols, but it has come down to two the alliance or the PPP.”
“The election is going to be fought principally with the PPP on ‘one side and conservatives on the other,” agreed Faroog Leghari, a leading People’s Party Activist.
The new alliance is the child of the first past the post parliamentary election system inherited from the British Colonialists, analysts said.
The PPP is the largest party; separately its opponents were likely to be crushed, as in 1970 when the PPP won 59 percent of the seats with only 39 percent of votes.
“They won in 1970 because of the distribution of votes; there was no alliance,” Ghafoor said, “now the situation is quite different.”
The new grouping the Islamic democratic alliance is dominated by former Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo and the young, but powerful Punjab Province Chief Minister Nawaz Sharif,
They both served under Zia in the Pakistan Muslim league but the party split when the military President sacked Junejo’s civilian government last May.
Junejo’s faction leans towards the land owning class, and Nawaz Sharif’s towards the federal and provincial governments Zia left behind, and industrial interests.
The rift grew bitter after Zia’s death in a plane crash in August and Junejo even joined opposition demands for the sacking of the Governments to prevent them rigging the polls.
But their common desire to stop Bhutto finally brought about reconciliation.
“We’ve done it on the basis of forgive and forget,” Nawaz Sharif said. “Mr. Junejo and I had a heart to heart talk.”
Both main contenders have issued lists of candidates for the 207 Moslem seats in the national assembly at stake in the November 16 poll the other 20 seats go to Non-Moslems and women.
But they both face difficulties with former allies in many constituencies. The alliance had nine parties squabbling for tickets and. some disappointed candidates plan to fight as independents.
The PPP will be fighting Candidates from its former allies in the Movement for the restoration of democracy (MRD), a nine party alliance founded in 1981 to oppose Zia.
The MRD effectively fell apart on Wednesday when the PPP failed to turn up to discuss distribution of seats at a meeting in Lahore.
“Practically, the MRD is finished,” one disillusioned party official said.
The PPP’s only concession was not to put up candidates against the leaders of the eight smaller MRD parties
Bhutto has pledged to work with the other MRD parties in parliament even if the PPP wins a majority by itself. But the smaller parties are left feeling they have been used and then discarded by the PPP.
“We are bitter,” one party official said, “It’s hardly a good example for when they need partners in parliament for a coalition.”
Article extracted from this publication >> October 28, 1988
