Nawaz Sharif’s party hopes to sail on no-sympathy vote
3 April 2013 6:14 AM IST
The political collage unfolding in Pakistan ahead of the May 2013 general elections is ambiguous. The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would suffer losses whereas Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is on an upswing is the general refrain.
Most analysts and exit polls suggest that Sharif has survived the storm and his party is expected to bag maximum seats this time. Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik Insaf (PTI) remains the puzzle to be solved. There is no apparent sympathy wave this time, which had propelled PPP in 2008 following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.
Professor Ajay Darshan Behera, the co-ordinator of Pakistan Studies Programme at Jamia Millia Islamia, said, ‘The PPP had sympathy of the people and this helped them not just in their stronghold of Sindh but across Pakistan.’ He warns though that PTI will cut into PML-N votes in Punjab.
Rana Banerji, a former bureaucrat who has been studying Pakistan for the past 21 years said, ‘If Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacks any leader, which they can very well do, then the sympathy factor will come in which is very crucial. It happened in the last elections when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated and PPP was benefited by it.’ Banerji also said that Bilawal Bhutto’s relations with his father president Asif Zardari would be crucial.
The Pakistani regional and ethnic parties are expected to play same role in allying with the ones with the maximum seats and form the coalition. While Muttahida Quami Mohajir (MQM) party will certainly secure maximum votes in the urban Sindh, Awami Nationalist Party (ANP) which had a good hold in Khyber Pakhtunwa would get lesser seats this time and the beneficiary would most likely be Imran Khan’s PTI.
Most analysts and exit polls suggest that Sharif has survived the storm and his party is expected to bag maximum seats this time. Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik Insaf (PTI) remains the puzzle to be solved. There is no apparent sympathy wave this time, which had propelled PPP in 2008 following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.
Professor Ajay Darshan Behera, the co-ordinator of Pakistan Studies Programme at Jamia Millia Islamia, said, ‘The PPP had sympathy of the people and this helped them not just in their stronghold of Sindh but across Pakistan.’ He warns though that PTI will cut into PML-N votes in Punjab.
Rana Banerji, a former bureaucrat who has been studying Pakistan for the past 21 years said, ‘If Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacks any leader, which they can very well do, then the sympathy factor will come in which is very crucial. It happened in the last elections when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated and PPP was benefited by it.’ Banerji also said that Bilawal Bhutto’s relations with his father president Asif Zardari would be crucial.
The Pakistani regional and ethnic parties are expected to play same role in allying with the ones with the maximum seats and form the coalition. While Muttahida Quami Mohajir (MQM) party will certainly secure maximum votes in the urban Sindh, Awami Nationalist Party (ANP) which had a good hold in Khyber Pakhtunwa would get lesser seats this time and the beneficiary would most likely be Imran Khan’s PTI.
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