As Pakistan gears up for elections at the end of the first
complete term of a government, we track the campaigns and profile prominent
political leaders in the run-up to May 11, 2013.
The first general elections in Pakistan that will usher in a
smooth democratic transfer of power in 66 years are likely to go down to the
wire with no party expected to get majority. With less than two weeks to go for
the landmark elections to choose the 242 member National Assembly, two time
former premier Nawaz Sharif appears to have an edge over others and his group
may emerge as the single largest party not withstanding a late surge by the
cricketer turned politician Imran Khan in Punjab.
The lifetime ban was imposed because Mr. Musharraf had
abrogated the Constitution twice and detained judges during the 2007 emergency,
the bench said. And Mr. Musharraf was barred from contesting polls to the
national and provincial assemblies and the Senate, it said.
All indications are that the country could be heading for
another coalition government, analysts say. Battered by allegations of poor
governance and corruption and hampered by a lacklustre campaign, the Pakistan
Peoples Party (PPP) and its allies, which held power till recently, are unlikely
to get the numbers that had helped them capture power in 2008. President Asif
Ali Zardari has been barred from campaigning by the judiciary and the PPP has
struggled in wooing voters even in its traditional strongholds in Sindh.
Attacks by the banned Tehrik-E-Taliban Pakistan on the PPP
and its secular allies, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement “MQM” under Awami National
Party “ANP” had forced them to curtail their election campaign and their
leaders away from rallies and meetings. Analysts say all this has strengthened
the hands of Sharif in an election seen largely as issue – less.
In the last polls, the PML-N bagged 92 seats in the National
Assembly, including 69 directly elected seats and 20 nominated seats for women
and non-Muslims. Pakistan appears set for another coalition government, says
Raza Rumi, editor of the Friday Times. With Zardari and another senior leaders missing
from the campaign trail and the PPP’s 24 year old chef Bilawal Bhutto Zardari
issuing only a video message, analysts believe the party is unlikely to bag
anywhere near the 125 seats it had last National Assembly.
Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, have attracted
massive crowds during their campaign but these large turnouts have largely been
in their traditional stronghold of Punjab.