PPP nominates Aitzaz Ahsan as candidate for presidential election

• PPP seeks PML-N’s support for Aitzaz’s candidature, promises to support Shehbaz as opposition leader in return

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Sunday reportedly nominated Aitzaz Ahsan as its presidential candidate.

The senior PPP leader was nominated for the president’s slot by party’s Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Imran Khan nominated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Arif Alvi for the same slot.

PPP, which is in a joint opposition in the National Assembly along with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), requires the latter’s support as the PML-N is the second largest party in the lower house of parliament. The PPP has written a letter to PML-N leadership seeking their support for Aitzaz’s election as president.

The PPP has promised to back PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif as leader of opposition in the house in return.

It is pertinent to mention here that the ties between the two opposition partners have been strained after the PPP refused to lend support to Shehbaz Sharif for the election of prime minister on August 17. Shehbaz was nominated as a joint candidate of the opposition for the premiership against Imran Khan.

The PPP leadership irked PML-N after it had a change of heart at the last moment and decided to abstain from voting for either candidate, resulting in Shehbaz getting only 96 votes against Imran’s 176.

Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced that the presidential election will be held on September 4.

Voting for the presidential election will be held in the National Assembly and the four provincial assemblies from 10am to 4pm.

The electoral body had issued a schedule which stated that the nomination papers for the presidential polls can be filed with the presiding officers in Islamabad and the four provinces by noon of August 27.

“The scrutiny of the nomination papers will be conducted on August 29,” the notification had said, adding that “candidature can be withdrawn by noon of August 30 as the final list will be published by 1 pm on the same day”.

Earlier, the ECP had said that the presidential election is likely to get delayed, as President Mamnoon Hussain completes his five-year tenure on Aug 8.

It was reported that according to the Constitution, “The presidential election must be held at least a month prior to the expiry of the incumbent’s term, which in this case would be August 8.”

Moreover, according to an ECP official, “The presidential election is held either a month after the general election, or at least a month before the expiry of the president’s tenure. However, since the national nor the provincial assemblies are not functional as yet, thus holding a presidential election on August 8 will be nearly out of the question.”

In addition to that, the ECP official had also said, “The incomplete status of the electoral college means that a schedule is unlikely to be issued by this date, putting the Aug 25 date in jeopardy as well.”

WHO IS AITZAZ AHSAN?

Aitzaz Ahsan was born in Murree and is a lawyer by profession. He received his early education from Aitchison College and then enrolled at the Government College. He received an LLM from Downing College, Cambridge.

Ahsan became the Planning and Development Minister for Punjab in 1975. After the Operation Fair Play Ahsan became a prominent figure of the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy. Ahsan was elected to the National Assembly from Lahore in 1988 and served as the Interior Minister of Pakistan under Benazir Bhutto’s first government and served until 1990.

Ahsan was elected as a member of the Senate in 1994. He re-joined the cabinet after Benazir re-election and went on to serve as the Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights until 1997. He served as the minority leader in the Senate between 1996 and 1999. Ahsan was elected to National Assembly again in 2002 and went on to serve as the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association between 2007 and 2008. Ahsan was elected to the Senate in 2012 and in 2015 became the minority leader.