Internal disputes
During the first half of the present year, the PTI suffered several electoral setbacks. It contested and lost three bye-polls in Punjab and Sindh. Its performance in the countrywide Cantonment Board polls was dismal, particularly in Punjab. In Gilgit-Baltistan elections the party managed to win only a single seat. The two PPP leaders who joined the PTI last week might have caused demoralisation among their original party but it remains it be seen if their entry in the PTI will in any significant way alter its electoral fortunes.
The PTI is riven with factionalism both at the centre and the provinces. Many thought Khan deliberately promoted the tendency to keep the party’s squabbling big wigs in line till he himself publicly confessed that the party is ‘imploding with differences at all levels’ which warrant serious corrective measures from top to bottom. The factionalism rampant in the parry led to complaints in KP of an ‘unfair distribution’ of tickets for the local government elections. Tensions came to a head when the general secretary of the party’s provincial chapter announced his resignation. With nominated party leaders deciding the affairs at all levels a bigger explosion could take place when tickets are distributed for Punjab and Sindh local government polls due in September.
Internal divisions have stood in the way of holding intraparty polls. Imran Khan used to claim that the elections in PTI, held in 2012, were unprecedented and historic. Soon after, the polls had to be cancelled by the party’s election tribunal, which declared them to be fraudulent. An exact date is yet to be fixed for the polls which may be held after the forthcoming local government elections.
Imran Khan keeps the hopes of fresh elections alive in the party rank and file. What has kept the party together while attracting more fortune hunters was the expectation of entering the corridors of power in 2015. With the hope gone, will Khan be able to keep the party in one piece?
[…] During the first half of the present year, the PTI suffered several electoral setbacks. It contested and lost three bye-polls in Punjab and Sindh. Its performance in the countrywide Cantonment Board polls was dismal, particularly in Punjab. In Gilgit-Baltistan elections the party managed to win only a single seat. The two PPP leaders who joined the PTI last week might have caused demoralisation among their original party but it remains it be seen if their entry in the PTI will in any significant way alter its electoral fortunes. The PTI is riven with factionalism both at the centre and the provinces. Many thought Khan deliberately promoted the tendency to keep the party’s squabbling big wigs in line till he himself publicly confessed that the party is ‘imploding with differences at all levels’ which warrant serious corrective measures from top to bottom. The factionalism rampant in the parry led to complaints in KP of an ‘unfair distribution’ of tickets for the local government elections. Tensions came to a head when the general secretary of the party’s provincial chapter announced his resignation. With nominated party leaders deciding the affairs at all levels a bigger explosion could take place when tickets are distributed for Punjab and Sindh local government polls due in September. Internal divisions have stood in the way of holding intraparty polls. Imran Khan used to claim that the elections in PTI, held in 2012, were unprecedented and historic. Soon after, the polls had to be cancelled by the party’s election tribunal, which declared them to be fraudulent. An exact date is yet to be fixed for the polls which may be held after the forthcoming local government elections. Imran Khan keeps the hopes of fresh elections alive in the party rank and file. What has kept the party together while attracting more …read more […]
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