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PPP puts off naming candidate for Premier

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party has put off an expected decision on its prime ministerial candidate in favour of more consultations on the issue. The party’s parliamentary group was expected to nominate a Prime Minister at its first meeting on Thursday from among four front runners.

But spokesman Farhatullah Babar said though it had never been explicitly stated that the name would be decided at this meeting, the issue did come up, but party leader Asif Ali Zardari said he would prefer to consult each and every parliamentarian elect on the issue.

Small groups of MPs will begin meetings on the issue with Mr. Zardari on the matter from Friday, Mr Babar said, adding it was keeping with a party decision that on major issues, the PPP would consult all members on who they wanted as Prime Minister.

The four contenders are Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Yusuf Raza Geelani, Shah Mahmood Qureishi, and Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar.

According to a PPP statement, Mr. Zardari told the meeting that by virtue of his being the co-chairperson, he should have been the natural choice for Prime Minister but he would rather devote his time and energy to strengthening the party.

He said he wanted consultations on the issue so as to finalise a candidate with the broadest support, and promised that a prime ministerial candidate would be named by the time the National Assembly was convened.

The party expects that Assembly to be convened between March 12 and 15.

After the new parliamentarians are sworn in, the President must invite the leader of the majority party in the Assembly to be sworn in as Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has to then prove the majority support of his party on the floor of the House.

For the huge media contingent that waited outside Zardari House in the capital, the delay in the announcement of the PPP’s prime ministerial candidate was a huge disappointment.

Those who emerged from the long meeting said Mr. Zardari spoke for most of the time on how he expects the new government and the PPP to conduct itself.

According to the PPP statement, he said “transparency would be the cardinal principle of the PPP government”, and for this purpose the Parliamentary Committee would be made more powerful and open to public for ensuring both accountability and transparency.

"Remember that any undemocratic attitude would weaken me and the party and not strength it", he said and urged elected representatives to be responsive to the people.

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