Presidential election: Deadlock on joint candidate persists

ISLAMABAD: The grand opposition alliance again failed to pick its joint candidate for the president, as the PPP's top leadership on Sunday refused to withdraw the nomination of Aitzaz Ahsan.

Aitzaz will be facing Arif Alvi of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in the September 4 presidential election. The Pakistan Muslim League — the main opposition party — has already rejected Aitzaz Ahsan’s nomination for his anti-Nawaz remarks against former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

Talking to reporters outside the Adiala Jail on Saturday where he along with other party leaders met Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Captain (retd) Safdar, PML-N Senator Pervaiz Rashid said his party will consider supporting Aitzaz provided he visited the Adiala Jail and apologised to Nawaz Sharif for his harsh remarks against him.

His remarks served to further deepen the rift between the two parties on Aitzaz’s nomination as the opposition’s joint candidate.

Nawaz, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar are serving their terms in the Adiala Jail after the Accountability Court-I, Islamabad, sentenced them to jail in the Avenfield Apartments corruption case.

The opposition parties’ deadlock on announcement ofthe final candidate for the president continued on Sunday, as Asif Ali Zardari insisted that Aitzaz Ahsan would be their candidate despite tough opposition from the other opposition parties.

Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) President Fazlur Rehman on Sunday met the PML-N President and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif to convey him Zardari’s refusal to withdraw Aitzaz’s nomination.

Fazl told Shahbaz that the PPP leadership was in no mood to change its candidate. Shahbaz said the PML-N was ready to support either Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani or Raza Rabbani as their joint candidate.

On the other hand, the opposition leader in the last National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah has called upon the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and all the opposition parties to support Aitzaz as the consensus candidate in view of his services for democracy.

The panel headed by Fazl was assigned the task to give names of three candidates (for the presidential elections) on Sunday. The panel is expected to complete its job Monday morning (today).

According to sources, Fazl supports the PPP’s stance, but the PML-N leaders insist that the PPP should give a new name for the candidate. It may be pointed out that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will receive nomination papers for the presidential elections by 12 noon on Monday (today).

The nomination papers could be withdrawn by August 30. As such the opposition parties still have three to four days to finalise the name of a joint candidate. Sources said Shahbaz Sharif was still in Murree waiting for a positive response to his party’s demand from the PPP leadership. Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Senator Raja Zafarul Haq will chair a meeting of the PML-N parliamentary party in the upper house of Parliament at the Parliament House today (Monday).