Presidential election: PPP confident of bagging 366 electoral votes for Zardari

ISLAMABAD: As former president and President of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians Asif Ali Zardari and chief of PKMAP, the presidential candidate of Sunni Ittehad Council, Mehmood Khan Achakzai come face to face in the presidential elections scheduled for March 9, the PPP has claimed it has enough numbers for a smooth sailing of their candidate.

The PPP has calculated it will win over 366 electoral votes for former president Asif Ali Zardari in the upcoming presidential elections. Earlier in the day, the Election Commission of Pakistan notified one-on-one presidential election between Asif Ali Zardari and Mehmood Khan Achackzai. According to ECP notification, “In pursuance of Paragraph 5 of the Second Schedule to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Chief Election Commissioner/Returning Officer hereby announces the names of the following candidates, who have been Validly Nominated for Election to the office of the President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan: Asif Ali Zardari and Mehmood Khan Achakzai.”

According to PPP insiders, the party is confident of securing 366 electoral votes to elect Asif Ali Zardari as president with only PPP, PMLN, PMLQ, IPP and ANP and newly reserved seats of women and minorities voting for the former president. However, they said Zardari could win with nearly 400 votes if MQM also decided to support the PPP-PMLN candidate. The MQM, they said, has not finalised its decision, while others have announced their complete support.

The PPP talked about the numbers after the party’s Presidential Campaign Committee comprising Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Syed Khursheed Shah and Syed Naveed Qamar held a meeting with different political parties to seek their votes.

During the presidential elections, the votes of members of Senate and National Assembly are counted as single votes, while those from the provincial assembly legislators are adjusted to give each province an equal share in the election and this is because each provincial assembly has a varying number of members, depending upon the population size.

The Electoral College for the presidential election comprises the Senate, National Assembly and all the four provincial assemblies and it comes to 696 votes. (100 Senate, 336 of the National Assembly while each provincial assembly has an equal number of 65 votes). The Punjab Assembly has a total of 371 members, Sindh 165 and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Assembly 145, whereas the Balochistan Assembly has only 65 votes. Therefore, the remaining three provincial assemblies are weighted against the Balochistan assembly’s 65 votes.

The PPP Presidential Campaign Committee, along with PMLN, sought support from Balochistan Awami Party, ANP, PMLQ, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party and MQM-Pakistan. They all assured their full support for Asif Ali Zardari except the MQM which has referred the decision to its Rabita Committee. The members of PPP’s Committee for Presidential Campaign held a meeting with their chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and briefed him about the assurances from PMLN, PMLQ, BAP and IPP. Vice President PPP Senator Sherry Rehman, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Deputy Speaker National Assembly Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah and Chaudhry Manzoor were also present on the occasion.

Earlier, a delegation of Pakistan Muslim League (N) and PPP held a meeting with leaders of Balochistan Awami Party in the chamber of Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani to seek support for the coalition’s joint candidate. The PPP-PMLN delegation comprised Senator Ishaq Dar, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, Naveed Qamar, Syed Khursheed Shah and Senator Azam Nazir Tarar.

Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani was joined in the meeting by Balochistan Awami Party President Khalid Magsi, Prince Ahmed Umar and Senator Muhammad Abdul Qadir. The government negotiating delegation requested the support of Balochistan Awami Party in the presidential elections. BAP assured the delegation of its full support for the presidential candidate.

In the meanwhile, BAP Secretary General Senator Manzoor Kakar and Deputy Secretary General Naseebullah Bazai held a meeting with President PPP Parliamentarians Asif Ali Zardari and assured him of their unconditional support. Zardari expressed his gratitude for BAP’s unconditional support. Other members of the BAP delegation comprised Senators Sana Jamali, Dinesh Kumar and Samina Mumtaz. They informed Zardari about the problems of Balochistan and asked for his help in solving the problems. Zardari assured the delegation of his help.

On the other hand, the presidential candidate of PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, made a telephonic contact with Naib Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Liaqaut Baloch and sought Jamaat-e-Islami’s support in the presidential election. Achakzai was informed that Jamaat-e-Islami would decide after consultation with its members of Balochistan and Sindh Assemblies. During the meeting, Liaquat Baloch condemned the “illegal and vindictive” action of law enforcement agencies at the Quetta residence of Mehmood Khan Achakzai and expressed regret over this unfortunate incident.

A PTI delegation comprising Umar Ayub Khan, Asad Qaiser and other leaders held a consultative meeting with PTI-backed SIC presidential candidate Mehmood Khan Achakzai in the opposition leader’s chamber in the Parliament House and discussed issues related to the presidential elections.