PPP — the Karachi bounce

In purely national terms the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is not enjoying the best of times, but it is not dead yet and displayed signs of vigorous life when its candidate Saeed Ghani won the PS-114 by-election. He beat his nearest rival, Kamran Tessori of the MQM, by more than 5,000 votes with all other contenders, including the ruling PML-N and the PTI, as the tiniest of also-rans. Anecdotal reports post-poll suggest that this is a popular win for the candidate that had made the strongest showing from the outset of the campaign. That said the turnout was tiny as well with a mere 25 per cent of voters bothering to turn out, a worrying trend that must be of concern for all political parties. It may be an indicator of a weariness of politics, that if true is reflected elsewhere in the world and not only in Pakistan.

It would appear that Mr Ghani appealed to voters across the spectrum from labour organisations, many of the ethnic and religious minorities as well as, possibly surprisingly, two of the minor religious parties. Again if true this in a small way represents the diversity of support that was present in the glory days of the PPP and the party will be keen to capitalise on this in future polls.

For the party to truly be resurgent and a credible threat down the line, it is going to have to resolve the crippling issue of party leadership. Whoever thought that the ‘co-chairman’ model was anything other than an albatross around the party neck needs to check the alignment of their political marbles. The man who should be leading the party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, congratulated Mr Ghani and hoped to parlay this victory into national success in the upcoming general election. This is a remote hope. Even allowing for the damage done to the PML-N by the Panama Papers affair its hold on Punjab looks firm enough and the PTI of Imran Khan has probably passed its peak though it remains a force to be reckoned with. The PPP can rejoice for now — but only for now. 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2017.

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