Outgoing ruling party bemoans system rigging, warns of political storm ahead

ISLAMABAD: The outgoing ruling party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), continues to face significant political challenges ahead of the general elections, prompting its leader and former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to warn the authorities not to rig the system because it will give rise to a major political storm in the country.
Sharif was barred from holding a public office in July last year when the Supreme Court of Pakistan issued its verdict in the Panama Papers case. Ever since, he has been subjected to a tough accountability process along with some of his other family members as a number of corruption references have been opened against them.
Despite these predicaments, the PML-N performed significantly well in the by-elections that followed Sharif’s ouster as prime minister. However, the party was nearly disenfranchised before the Senate polls earlier this year when another apex court verdict not only prevented Sharif from heading his own political faction but also declared all the decisions he had taken in that capacity after his disqualification as null and void. Subsequently, all PML-N candidates, who were bracing for the Senate elections, had to participate in the contest as independents.
It was against this backdrop that the PML-N leader issued his warning to the powers-that-be while interacting with a group of journalists in London on Saturday. According to local news outlets, he claimed that some of his party candidates had been threatened -– and even manhandled -– while urging the caretaker prime minister and chief election commissioner to look into the matter and provide a level playing field to all political parties.
Local media also reported on Sunday that seven PML-N candidates from Dera Ghazi Khan district in south Punjab turned down their party tickets on the last day of symbol allotment and announced that they would contest the polls independently. The eleventh-hour move implies that the party is no longer in a position to field other candidates from the vacant constituencies.