Elections 2013: Parties in middle of shaping manifestos, coining slogans

PPP’s manifesto enters final stages, PML-N’s manifesto goes in for printing.

KARACHI: With general elections fast approaching, no party from Pakistan’s ruling coalition has finalised its manifesto for contesting the upcoming polls. Almost all parties in the country have yet to coin their electoral slogans.

For the last 21 months, the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has been working on updating its 2008 manifesto, which emphasised five Es: ‘Employment, education, energy, environment and equality’.

“Our (new) manifesto is in its final stages. It will focus on allocating resources to the lower and working classes,” PPP manifesto committee member Taj Haider told The Express Tribune.



Fauzia Habib, the coordinator of PPP’s 13-member manifesto committees, said the party’s senior-most leaders were involved in drafting the manifesto, which she added would be made public before the elections. The poll schedule is supposed to be announced in March this year.

Asked about PPP’s new slogan, Taj Haider replied, ‘Democracy is our politics’. However, it is unlikely the party will replace its traditional slogan, ‘Roti, kapra aur makan, maang raha hai har insan’ (Bread, cloth and a house is every person’s demand).

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) new manifesto has entered the printing phase, according to Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, a member of the party’s manifesto committee. Sartaj Aziz heads the manifesto committee of the party, which rules Punjab but remains part of the opposition at the centre and in other provinces.

While Jhagra said the PML-N’s new manifesto would be unveiled soon, he expressed ignorance about the party’s slogan for the upcoming elections.

The Awami National Party (ANP), which rules Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and is an ally of the PPP-led government at the centre, has reportedly formed a manifesto committee comprising the party’s provincial chapter presidents under Senator Haji Adeel.

“We were the only party to keep its promises made before being elected… We got the North West Frontier Province’s name changed to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa during our tenure,” said ANP’s Sindh chapter secretary general Bashir Jan. In addition to the province’s name change, Jan said the party had also promised more provincial autonomy.

“The entire country can testify that we honoured our promises… We will devise a new manifesto this time and work towards its fulfillment,” he added. Jan said the party’s provincial chapters would be free to chalk out their own electoral course.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) set up its manifesto committee a year ago. The committee, led by Dr Farooq Sattar, includes Syed Sardar Ahmed, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Mustafa Kamal, Raza Haroon, Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Faisal Sabzwari, Waseem Aftab and Shahid Latif.

“We are working on a new slogan that will be people friendly, democracy friendly and that will reflect our whole policy. It will be short and comprehensive,” Waseem Aftab told The Express Tribune. Replying to question, he said MQM had considered proposals from legal, constitutional, economic and health experts along with sociologists while drafting the new manifesto.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2013.