Source: Exotix |
During discussion that followed his presentation, Imran Khan showed "Reluctant acceptance that IMF assistance may be necessary" and expressed "pragmatism on the need for constructive US relations" and "regret over the lack of transparency of pricing in Chinese-led infrastructure projects", according to a report.
Based on the events in Pakistan since July, 2017 beginning with the disqualification of Mr. Nawaz Sharif from holding elected office, analysts at Exotix have concluded that a "coalition led by PTI has become more likely". The analysts say this is "positive long term, warning short term"
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Blow after blow dims re-election hopes of Pakistan's ruling party
Drazen Jorgic
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-politics-pmln-analysis/blow-after-blow-dims-re-election-hopes-of-pakistans-ruling-party-idUSKBN1IC0VS
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Reeling from clashes with the judiciary and hobbled by media restrictions linked to the powerful military, Pakistan’s ruling party’s once-wide path to retaining power is narrowing ahead of a general election this summer.
In the past year, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party has seen a prime minister - its founder Nawaz Sharif - and foreign minister both ousted by the courts, while its finance minister, charged with corruption, fled the country. On Sunday, a gunman shot and wounded its interior minister. [LINK]
All of this comes before another court ruling due next month that could send Sharif to jail for 14 years over a corruption case he says is a “conspiracy” against him.
An alleged religious extremist has been arrested over the gun attack on Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal.
That appears unrelated to PML-N’s wider problems with the military and judiciary - both of whom deny pursuing a political agenda. But the assassination attempt adds to a growing list of woes afflicting a party that less than a year ago was deemed a shoo-in for another five-year term.
Such a series of body blows suggests the PML-N is unlikely to repeat its success at the 2013 election, which left it with a majority in the national assembly, with most analysts predicting a hung parliament that will usher in a coalition government.
“All these other issues that are thrown up just distract the party from doing what it needs to do in an election,” said Huma Yusuf, a columnist and Wilson Center Global Fellow. “It makes it an unequal playing field.”
PML-N’s main challenge is expected to come from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by cricket hero-turned-politician Imran Khan, who has promised a radical change for the poor if he is elected as premier.
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Despite the series of setbacks, Sharif is still drawing sizeable crowds at rallies, and a nationwide poll conducted in March by Gallup Pakistan showed PML-N had a 12 point lead over PTI.
The party’s fate will be largely decided by how it performs in the vast Punjab province, long a PML-N stronghold that returns 143 of the 272 directly contested seats in the National Assembly.
Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a PML-N senator who is on the campaign trail with Sharif and Shehbaz, said PML-N’s message was resonating with voters who see signs of economic progress in infrastructure projects, from six-lane highways and bus transport systems to power stations, including vast projects funded by Beijing as part of China’s Belt and Road intuitive.
PML-N also boasts a well-oiled electoral machine built over many decades in Punjab, where Sharif was chief minister in the 1980s and where in the same role Shehbaz has built a strong reputation as a competent administrator since 2008.
But PTI leader Khan, whose stock has risen since Sharif’s ouster, believes the path to victory in Punjab will be through so-called “electables”, wealthy and largely fickle politicians who carry large rural vote banks due to their status as feudal lords, tribal chieftains and heads of various clans.
At least seven lawmakers in southern Punjab have switched allegiance away from PML-N to PTI this week, and Khan has forecast a flood of defections once the electables see PML-N is unlikely to be on the winning side.
“The PML-N grip is breaking as we speak,” Khan said.
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