ISLAMABAD: The PML-N will hold the party elections with a consensus developed over its Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif to be elected as the party president unopposed.The PML-N chief announced on Sunday that the party’s central working committee would meet to elect the party president and its central office-bearers on July 27. The party has also established an election commission to conduct the elections. However, the party elections are just a formality, as the top office-bearers had already been selected and would be elected unopposed in the meeting, insiders confided to Daily Times.
Sources disclosed that apart from Nawaz Sharif to be elected as the party president, a consensus has also been evolved to make Javed Hashmi as the senior vice president. Others who would be elected to senior positions unopposed include Raja Zafarul Haq to be elected as the chairman, a powerless and ceremonial position with little say in the party affairs.
The post of central secretary general is likely to go to the PML-N leader in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sartaj Aziz, without facing a competition. This move has stirred resentment in the party cadre as many leaders see Aziz’s appointment irrelevant to the ground realities of today.According to the party sources, the argument that the party made landslide victory in 1997 elections when Aziz was serving as the secretary general carried little weight. The sources argued that the situation had gone through a sea of change since then and believed that Aziz did not remain in active politics and was oblivious to the ground realities of today.
Ahsan Iqbal, PML-N central information secretary, will be made additional secretary general while Senator Pervez Rasheed, a close aide of Nawaz Sharif, will be elected as central information secretary of the party, sources said.The election commission consists of Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, M Hamza, Mamnoon Hussain, Changez Khan Murree, Shah Ghulam Qadir, Pir Sabir Shah and Haji Akbar, the party announced.The PML-N leadership had dissolved the party structure in September 2009, announcing that the party will be reorganised through intra-party elections within six months. However, party could not meet the cutoff date and after missing several deadlines has finally announced the party elections. – dailytimes
