Covert negotiations: PPP, PML-N agree to dissolve assemblies on March 16

Prime minister says National Assembly will not be dissolved before this date.

ISLAMABAD:

Negotiating teams for the government and the opposition, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), have agreed in principle to dissolve the National Assembly and all provincial assemblies on March 16, paving the way for elections for both national and provincial legislatures on the same day.

Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said on Friday that the National Assembly will complete its tenure and will not be dissolved before March 16, a private TV channel reported.  In behind the scenes negotiations, the two major parties have reportedly covered significant ground over installing interim set-ups at both the centre and in provinces.

Formal negotiations between the Prime Minister and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly are yet to start. However many issues have been decided behind closed doors, between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) committee led by Khurshid Shah and PML-N committee led by Ishaq Dar.

The two sides have also agreed in principle that the PML-N will accept the PPP’s choice for interim chief minister in Sindh. The PPP has said it will reciprocate this gesture in Punjab, provided an acceptable name is chosen.

Although the tenure of the National Assembly will expire on March 16, the Punjab Assembly will remain functional until April 8, a leverage the PML-N has been using to its advantage in its negotiations with the ruling party.

If the PML-N doesn’t dissolve the provincial assembly before April 8, elections of National and all provincial assemblies will not take place within a 60-day timeframe, unless the rest of the assemblies are dissolved before March 16.

If the dissolution of assemblies occurs on different dates, it would be an administrative nightmare for election authorities to conduct elections for all legislatures the same day.



There is no legal bar on holding these elections separately, but since the polls require huge financial and administrative resources, election authorities have been holding them on the same day since 1997.

Law Minister Farooq H Naek told reporters that in order to hold elections on the same date, both the National and provincial assemblies need to be dissolved the same day. He said on March 16, the federal cabinet would stand dissolved but prime minister would continue for another few days till an interim premier takes office.

PML-N spokesperson Senator Pervez Rasheed told The Express Tribune that the dissolution of the assemblies on March 16th is conditional from the PML-N, and depends on if all other related matters go smoothly. “We will keep this option till the last minute,” he said. However, he said that if the rest of the pre-election issues went smoothly between the two parties, PML-N would agree to it.

Meanwhile, the opposition has floated many names for an interim prime minister with other opposition parties and in the media, while the PPP, in contrast, has been tight-lipped on the subject. When contacted, a number of PPP leaders claimed that their nominee will be both neutral and acceptable to the PML-N, adding that the party will reveal a name once formal talks begin.



Legal position

The prime minister is supposed to write a letter to the leader of the opposition inviting his consultation over their perspective candidates for an interim premiership.

In case the prime minister and leader of opposition fail to agree on a person to be appointed as the caretaker prime minister within three days of the dissolution of the National Assembly, they each have to forward two nominees to a committee to be immediately constituted by the speaker of the National Assembly. This committee comprises eight members of the outgoing assembly, the Senate, or both, with equal representation from the treasury and the opposition, to be nominated by the prime minister and opposition leader, respectively.

In case this committee fails to make a decision, the matter is then referred to the election commission which is required to make a final selection within two days. The same procedure would be adopted for the appointment of provincial interim chief ministers.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2013.