ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition alliance has failed to reach a consensus on fielding a joint candidate for the upcoming presidential election despite several rounds of talks, said Sen. Mushahidullah Khan, information secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N).
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has nominated a candidate who is unacceptable to the PML-N leadership, he added.
“We feel that the PPP has intentionally nominated Aitzaz Ahsan to destroy the opposition alliance,” Khan told Arab News, adding that Ahsan has been involved in mudslinging against the PML-N leadership. “The split in the opposition alliance will definitely benefit the ruling party.”
PPP leader Naveed Chaudhry told Arab News that Ahsan “is considered to be the most suitable candidate.”
The five-year term of incumbent President Mamnoon Hussain is set to expire on Sept. 9. The election for the next president will be held on Sept. 4 through a secret ballot.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry expressed confidence that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and its allies will win the election with its nominee Dr. Arif Alvi, “because we have the required numbers in Parliament and all four provincial assemblies.”
He told Arab News: “We’ve been reaching out to independents in Parliament and provincial assemblies. Our nominee will win with quite a majority even if the opposition alliance fields a joint candidate.”
Prof. Tahir Malik, an academic and political analyst, told Arab News that the opposition alliance is unlikely to field a consensus candidate because the parties in it “have different ideologies and political interests.” 
It would be difficult for the PPP to join hands with its decades-old rival party, the PML-N, he said.
Political analyst Rasul Bakhsh Rais said the two parties have had a conflicting relationship for the last 30 years as they had registered criminal cases against each other’s leadership, so it is not easy for them to become allies.
“The opposition alliance will remain in name only, and will be ineffective due to conflicts of interest,” he told Arab News.