PPP leader Faisal Saleh Hayat has said that a coalition government would lead the country after delayed general elections, which are due on February 8, where his party and the PML-N could be seen joining hands.
“I cannot rule out this possibility,” he said when asked whether the Pakistan Peoples Party and the N-league would be together in the next government.
Hayat, a senior politician, was on the Shaukat Piracha show Rubaroo which was aired on Aaj News on Saturday. He answered queries related to general elections, his party’s standing in Punjab, NAB amendments, and Nawaz Sharif’s arrival.
Hayat was brought into politics by former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto but later parted ways with the party. He returned to the Bhutto-led party in 2007 more than 14 years after being elected on the PPP ticket in 2002.
When asked, he agreed that there would be a situation where most of the parties from the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government – that led the country for 16 months after the ouster of Imran Khan via a vote of no-confidence – would be forming a coalition government.
In response to a query, he admitted that it was difficult for the PPP to regain National Assembly and Punjab Assembly seats in Punjab, with strong support for the PTI and the PML-N.
“Punjab is a big issue for PPP politically. I think we have a big challenge in the province. We need to do a lot of work and time is short,” Hayat said and hoped that party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari would take measures to salvage the party’s position and link those “missing links”.
In Pakistan’s politics, the party which grabs the maximum number of seats in Punjab establishes the government in the Centre. The largest populated province, also known as the ‘lion’s share in politics’, is said to be the deciding factor in government formation.
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Without any hesitation, he stated that the PML-N and the PTI were two strong parties in Punjab. But the Jhang resident added that he could not see the former ruling party managing elections or conducting campaigns in the province, diminishing its chances to win polls.
When asked about the Supreme Court’s remarks that it brought “PPP and PTI together”, he said that everything was possible in politics. “You cannot rule out anything.”
But he was not sure about any alliance with the Khan-led party with respect to the past statements of a former prime minister who he thought made “below the belt” statements about PPP leaders.
Despite the election date announcement, the PPP leader was of the view that the Election Commission of Pakistan should have issued the election schedule as it was needed for parties to run campaigns.
He described the announcement as a “silver lining” that ended the vagueness surrounding the polls, which as per the previous statement of ECP were scheduled to be held in the last week of January.
He went on to add that the greater alliance in Sindh would not affect his party’s position in Sindh where they had been in power for many years.
While responding to a query on elections, he said: “I don’t hesitate to say that we are a democracy but we have not fully established our democratic credentials and have not been able to have strong democracy on ground level.”
He added that PPP Mayor Murtaza Wahab would have a big challenge in Karachi as the city demands leaders who resolve its issues. According to Hayat, the PPP would bag at least seven to eight seats in the economic hub of the country.
He also spoke about the national graft buster, saying that his party, while in power in 2013, wanted to abolish the National Accountability Bureau but the PML-N opposed it.
“It is better for our political, economic, and social matters that as early as NAB is ended.”
He admitted that the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party has some political heavyweights, however, the newly launched party “lacked” popularity like other parties.
“Perception is stronger than reality in Pakistan’s politics,” Hayat said while speaking about the arrival of Nawaz Sharif in the country after ending four years of his self-imposed exile.
“We see there is a floating vote and some are committed votes. Floating votes are never decided and go with the perception. So I think the PML-N has an advantage that their perception has been built,” he added.
