2018 elections: PPP plans ‘national electoral alliance’ against PTI

Party also likely to woo MQM-P to scuttle any alliance against it in Sindh

KARACHI: Amid the ongoing political hullabaloo, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has decided to swing into election mode in December. And according to sources, the party will be open to forming electoral alliances with anyone and anywhere, except in Sindh, their political stronghold.

The sources told The Express Tribune that the party had decided to launch its election campaign with a show of power in Larkana, the hometown of the Bhutto family, on December 27 – the 10th death anniversary of its slain leader Benazir Bhutto.

The PPP was ready to form electoral alliances with like-minded parties anywhere in Pakistan, except Sindh, said the sources, close to the party’s top leadership.



PPP will form electoral alliances with like-minded parties anywhere in Pakistan except Sindh, they said.

At least five committees will be formed at the national and provincial levels to oversee the election campaign. Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will lead the election campaign, while Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari will take care of the remaining political issues, they added.

A ‘national electoral alliance’ will be made against Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which emerged as the second most popular political force in the country, eclipsing the PPP, during the last elections, said sources.

This alliance will then be extended to other provinces, as most of the PPP politicians who jumped ship recently have joined PTI.

According to sources, the PPP will cobble together the committees, comprising senior party leaders, to reach out to like-minded parties.

In the meantime, however, the party will continue its politics of reconciliation with the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and other political forces on matters related to national issues, legislation and the strengthening of parliament.



They confirmed that the PPP will not shy away from joining hands with its political arch-nemesis, MQM-Pakistan, to scuttle any attempt by rival parties to form a grand alliance.

A law to empower local governments in a bid to woo the Farooq Sattar-led MQM-Pakistan is also on the table, the sources added.

If no legal challenge or technical glitch arise, the party of the Bhutto family, registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as PPP-Parliamentarians, will also contest the 2018 parliamentary polls as PPP using its old election symbol of the ‘arrow’.

In case of legal hiccups, the party will contest the elections from the platform of PPP-Parliamentarians, sources claimed further.