Shahbaz likely to be elected PML-N Punjab president

PML-N seems to have reached a decision after months of internal consultations over who should win the key slot.

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is likely to elect Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif as the party’s provincial president when its general council meets next week, after months of internal consultations and infighting over who should win the key slot.

Officials in the party told The Express Tribune on Tuesday that the provincial general council was scheduled to hold the important meeting in Lahore to elect Punjab’s party office bearers on March 5.

The meeting will take place more than half a year after the PML-N’s general council met in Islamabad on July 27 to elect Shahbaz’s elder brother Nawaz as the party president 10 years after he was ousted from power by military strongman Pervez Musharraf. The months since the July meeting have been marred by controversy and frustration with the central leadership. The period marked the election of new officials for Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan in intra-party elections. The process of reorganisation started back in September 2009 when Nawaz Sharif dissolved all existing party structures to elect new officials.

A top PML-N leader confirmed to The Express Tribune that Nawaz did not want to nominate Shahbaz for the slot but he ultimately ‘had to’ because provincial leaders could not agree on any other individuals proposed by him.

Sardar Zulfikar Khosa, a party stalwart from Dera Ghazi Khan, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Shahbaz’s son Hamza Shahbaz were Nawaz’s choices for the position but all of them were rejected due to reservations by party officials and workers.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 29^th, 2012.