Care-taker setup: PML-N, PPP to decide nominees, not ECP

Parties have developed consensus to not forward separate nominees to election commission, sources reveal.

LAHORE:

The two biggest parties of the country have reached consensus over nominees for the care-taker setup and will commence negotiations during committee meetings rather than forwarding the issue to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Sources familiar to the development told The Express Tribune that the top leadership of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have agreed in principal to negotiate the names of the nominees for the care-taker setup prime minister.

Earlier, the PML-N had insisted it would not consult with the government on the care-taker setup and would directly send its two finalised names to the election commission.

Sources revealed that soon after PML-N president Nawaz Sharif’s arrival from Dubai, senior leaders from both the parties will commence negotiations over the expected names of a care-taker setup in the four provinces and at the Centre. They are also expected to discuss at what date the care-taker setup would be installed in the country — February or March.

It was also revealed that PPP’s leadership approached Nawaz through “common friends” and developed consensus over the contentious issue and decided that political parties and not the ECP should make the decision.



Sharif’s Dubai visit

The PML-N chief is currently on a personal visit to Dubai. Although according to his media office his visit was personal, it changed into a political one with Nawaz continuously engaging to hold meetings with various political heads of Pakistan.

On Tuesday, the former prime minister met with PML-Likeminded President Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan head Owais Ahmad Noorani.

Regarding his meeting with Nawaz, Dr Arbab told The Express Tribune that besides discussing his party’s seat adjustments and other issues, his meeting remained largely “positive”. When asked who would talk with the PPP regarding the care-taker setup in Sindh, he said that the PPP would have to ultimately talk to him.

According to a PML-N official, after consulting with opposition groups, the party has so far finalised the names of Nasir Aslam Zahid and Shakirullah Jan.

Although Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has insisted that the nominees would be directly forwarded to the ECP, PML-N’s senior leader Tariq Azeem said that his party supported that the selection of care-taker nominations should be decided by political parties and not the ECP. However, he added that his party has not yet started its negotiations with the PPP.



According to Article 224A, the incumbent prime minister and leader of opposition should consult and agree on the name of a care-taker prime minister. In case the prime minister and the opposition leader in the outgoing National Assembly do not agree on any person within three days of its dissolution, they will forward two nominees each to a committee to be immediately constituted by the speaker comprising eight members of the outgoing assembly or the Senate or both, having equal representation from the treasury and the opposition to be named by the premier and the opposition leader, respectively.

The committee will then finalise the name of the care-taker nominee within three days of the referral of the matter to it. In case of its inability to take a decision within this period, the names of the nominees will be referred to the ECP for a final decision within two days.

Then, the chief election commissioner and its four members will be the final authority to decide the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2012.