Sharifs and Bhuttos to jointly contest by-polls in Pakistan

Islamabad: Pakistan’s two major political parties in the current ruling dispensation – the PML-N and the PPP – on Saturday announced to jointly contest the upcoming by-elections.

The decision by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders to cooperate in the national and provincial elections was announced at a press conference here.

Several seats of the national and provincial assemblies became vacant last month after the conviction of leaders of the incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for their involvement in the May 9, 2023 riots.

As per the schedule issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the by-elections will be held on September 18 for the NA-66 Wazirabad, NA-129 Lahore-XIII, and PP-87 Mianwali-III constituencies.

It would be followed by elections in NA-143 Sahiwal-lll, NA-185, DG Khan-ll, PP-203 Sahiwal-Vl, NA-96 Faisalabad-II, NA-104 Faisalabad-X, and PP-98 Faisalabad-l on October 5, the ECP said.

“Both parties (PPP and PML-N) have agreed to contest the by-elections together,” said Hanif Abbasi, a PML-N leader, who also holds the federal railways portfolio.

Both parties made the decision in the country’s best interest, he said. “We are allies, and the leadership of both parties has shown maturity.” PPP leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that both parties had reached a seat-adjustment formula, under which the candidate from the party that finished runner-up in the previous general election would be fielded again from that particular constituency.

“We welcome the PML-N delegation and have finalised the electoral arrangements amicably,” he said and also thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for his role in finalising the agreement.

It was so far not clear if the PTI would contest the elections as Imran Khan has left the decision about taking part in the polls to the senior leaders of the party.

The 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been behind bars since August 2023 after he was booked in multiple cases.

On May 9, 2023, Khan's party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including the Jinnah House (Lahore Corps Commander House), Mianwali Airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad, some 130 kms from Lahore.

The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time, protesting Khan's arrest.

Last month, different courts announced verdicts in the cases filed after the violence, convicting leaders and workers including the leader of opposition in the National Assembly Omer Ayub Khan and leader of opposition in the Senate Shibli Faraz.

Earlier last year, after the February general elections, Imran Khan had called the PML-N and the PPP 'mandate thieves' alleging that they stole his party's seats by manipulating results.