PML-N awakening to its empty victory

As initial excitement for forming a coalition government recedes, a serious realization of the credibility of the very elections that the PML-N is a beneficiary of has started to dawn upon the party, especially after the reaction of its former ally, Maulana Fazlur Rehman led JUI-F.

Talking to The Express Tribune, a second-generation PML-N leader said almost all parties have raised questions about the credibility of the elections, which means the election process has zero legitimacy.

“How can any government formed as a consequence of such a visibly tainted exercise survive? [PML-N President] Shehbaz Sharif completed his term as the prime minister earlier, but this time around things are different,” he said.

Talking with reference to the seats that the party lost, he questioned whether the party’s loss in the elections was organic or someone deliberately engineered a hung parliament to steal their mandate.

"We couldn't take a definitive position on this now, particularly after the party decided to pursue forming a government." He said the party needed to introspect if it even wanted to form a government.

He said as the dust of the elections settles, the fate of the incoming government will be more visible, but as of now, it appeared that the PML-N will not be able to complete its term.

The PML-N is the only party that came out in support of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and accepted the election outcome, while all the while raising questions of its own about the elections process in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), where the PTI won a landslide victory.

When asked if the party will reconsider its position on the polls at some stage, the leader said if the JUI-F chief continued his charge against these elections, then the PML-N will also have to modify its position.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday rejected the Feb 8 election results while announcing a country-wide protest movement against alleged rigging.

When asked if Nawaz Sharif's decision not to become prime minister for the fourth time was solely motivated by the election outcomes, he said there were various external factors taken into account before making such a decision.
He accepted that Nawaz's decision disappointed many within the party for different reasons.

As far as the public reaction was concerned, the PML-N’s entire election campaign was based on Nawaz becoming the premier, so when he decided to nominate Shehbaz for the position, people felt betrayed and sad, he said.

When asked if people within the PML-N felt there were internal factors or a conspiracy against Nawaz Sharif that influenced his decision, he gave a cryptic reply, stating that "they have indeed betrayed Nawaz Sharif."

Another senior PML-N leader said things were not as hunky-dory as they seemed. He, however, refused any further comments.