PPP yet to hold party elections in three provinces

Karachi

The organisational affairs of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have not been receiving adequate attention by the party leadership since the past two years due to a host of reasons. The PPP leadership has failed to hold internal party elections in three provinces – only in Punjab have the PPP already completed its membership process and held internal party elections.

Party leaders attributed the delay to general elections, perceived compulsions of the then ticket-holders to avoid polarisation within the party ahead of the polls, and the martyrdom of former party chairperson Benazir Bhutto.

In these times of supposed discontentment within the party, the leadership was believed to be giving greater preference to maintaining unity than to initiate any action which could potentially trigger friction. “The party elections were supposed to be completed by July 2007 in Sindh province,” said Chief Election Commissioner of the PPP, Sajjad Bukhari.

Talking to The News on Monday, he said that the electoral process could not be completed because Bhutto had invited the concerned board of the party to London to award tickets for general elections. He said that Fouzia Wahab, now MNA and central information secretary of PPP, was made head of the party’s election committee for Sindh province.

Bukhari said that Benazir Bhutto had invited party leaders during the summers (July and August), who in turn requested her to extend the scheduled date of internal elections. He recalled that since prominent leaders of PPP Sindh were present in London, it was deemed fit and proper to delay the elections for some time.

Once the names of party nominees for general elections were announced, three prominent leaders of PPP Sindh requested Bhutto to delay elections as they feared it might cause “polarisation,” according to Bukhari. He said that their apprehensions were justified to some extent, as the experience of party elections in Punjab revealed that such an exercise would lead to groupings that might undermine electoral prospects of the party in the general elections. As a result, the party elections in Sindh were delayed till general elections.

In the meantime however, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated and the party elections in three provinces Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan could not take place. The assassination was followed by 40 days of mourning by the party.

Sajjad Bukhari said that recently he had held a meeting with President of Pakistan and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari for activating the party election process, and hoped that it would be materialised at an “appropriate time”.

He said that first phase of voluntarily membership had been completed. Bukhari also added that the PPP was only party, which had “paid membership”. He estimated that the party had raised over Rs40 million through memberships (Rs40 per membership form), while the share of Sindh was over Rs20 million. He said that after completing the membership process, the second phase of holding party elections from union councils to provincial level was supposed to be held, but that could not be done.

A PPP leader in Sindh, who wished to not be named, said that it was the conviction of late Benazir Bhutto to organise the party by holding internal elections. He said that a councillor was supposed to be elected by 25 members, but according to stipulated criteria, he or she should not be person of dubious character.

PPP Karachi had also reportedly accelerated its membership drive. However PPP Karachi President Senator Faisal Raza Abidi was reluctant to talk about it when contacted.

PPP Sindh General Secretary Nafees Siddiqi meanwhile maintained that PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari showed “keen interest” in the reorganisation of the party. He said that this issue was also debated during the party’s meeting at Garhi Khuda Bux during Z.A. Bhutto’s 30th death anniversary commemoration.