Zardari admits PPP's own setbacks cost it Punjab elections

A day after the PML-N maintained its position in the National Assembly by winning the NA-133 Lahore by-election, former president Asif Ali Zardari admitted on Monday that PPP's own shortcomings had cost it elections in Punjab.

Speaking during a rare press conference held at Bilawal House, Lahore, the former president claimed the party could have managed to bag up to 50,000 votes in yesterday’s elections if the voter turnout had not been lower.

As per unofficial and unconfirmed results, PML-N candidate Shaista Pervaiz Malik bagged 46,811 votes and reclaimed the seat which was left vacant after the death of her husband, Pervaiz Malik, in October.

In comparison with the 2018 general elections results, the PPP gained a bit of popularity in the constituency as its candidate Aslam Gill secured 32,313 votes in the by-poll.

Also read: PML-N retains NA-133 by winning by-poll

The former president also accused its rival party PML-N of carrying out delimitations in various constituencies of Punjab to increase its vote bank. “We will change these constituencies and will fight them at every nook and corner of the country.”

However, Zardari congratulated workers over the party's "splendid results". "The efforts put in by Peoples Party Central Punjab's leadership, its team, and workers have borne fruit.”

Zardari had congratulated PPP Central Punjab President Raja Pervez Ashraf.

"The Lahore by-poll has proved to be a turning point for Peoples Party," he maintained.

The PPP president had said that the party has been "born again" in Lahore which will prove to be the impetus needed to bring change in Punjab.

The PPP leader claimed that "there is no place in Pakistan where you will not find a Bhuttoist or a PPP supporter."

‘Foreign forces conspiring to break Pakistan’

The former president also warned that some foreign elements were conspiring to disintegrate Pakistan.

"The world wants to break Pakistan," Zardari said, assuring the workers that PPP will fight against everybody for the sake of the country.

"We want to make Pakistan a successful country for generations to come," he said, adding that a person who is not ready to breathe his last in Pakistan does not have a stake in the decision of the country.

"We belong to this land and we will die here," he reiterated.