PESHAWAR: The day Senator Shamim Afridi and his son Amjad Afridi announced joining the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) at a public meeting in their native Kohat addressed by the party leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, his other son Abbas Afridi was finalized as the candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the upcoming Senate elections.
Members of the same family joining different political parties isn’t new or rare in Pakistan’s unprincipled politics, but in the case of the Afridis from Kohat this happened on the same day. It is true that Abbas Afridi has been with the PML-N for some years and had also served as a federal minister in the party’s government, but it is strange that his father and son chose to join the PPP rather than joining the PML-N.
This could be interpreted that they disagreed with Abbas Afridi and, therefore, joined another party. Or it is the same old story in Pakistani politics that members of the same family joined different parties so that the family’s interests are protected in case one or the other party comes into power. One can describe it as a mutually beneficial arrangement as the PML-N and PPP, both major parties in the country, have chances of returning to power in future.
The Kohat public meeting where Bilawal spoke was held on Saturday. The same day Abbas Afridi was finalized as the PML-N candidate for one of the seven general seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Besides, he was chosen as the joint candidate of the 11-party opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), plus the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). The joint candidates of the PDM and JI were chosen after much discussion and wrangling as all major parties wanted a seat. The JUI-F, ANP and PML-N got the joint ticket for general seats, the PPP for a technocrat seat and the JI for the women’s seat.
The JI decision was strange as until now it had been harshly critical of both the ruling PTI and the PDM. It had chosen a solo flight and started a campaign against the PTI government. However, it was going nowhere and was clearly feeling lonely in the political field. With just three MPAs, it had no chance of winning a Senate seat in the 145-member KP Assembly. The best way to get a seat in the Senate was to join hands with the PDM, which needed those extra votes to brighten its chances of victory in the polls. The JI in the end got the best bargain as the PDM components would support its candidate for women seats on the strength of its three MPAs only. The four major PDM components parties, including the JUI-F, which has 15 MPAs, ANP with 12 MPAs, PML-N having seven lawmakers, and PPP with six have more MPAs than the JI but they managed to get and field just one joint candidate each.
However, it remains to be seen if all the MPAs of this new electoral alliance would vote for the joint candidates or make their own decision by voting for someone else.
