Pakistan elections: PPP nominates Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as its PM candidate

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has officially announced Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the party’s chairman and former foreign minister, as its prime ministerial candidate for the upcoming general elections on 8 February. The decision was made during the PPP’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting held late on Wednesday evening at Bilawal House. Following the meeting, a comprehensive post on the PPP’s official platform, accompanied by photos from the gathering, conveyed that members of the CEC expressed their confidence in the leadership of party president Asif Ali Zardari and chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. President Asif Ali Zardari presented the name of chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as the candidate for the Prime Minister on behalf of Pakistan Peoples Party. The CEC has endorsed Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as the Prime Ministerial candidate of PPP, the party posted on X. “It is with profound gratitude & great humility that I accept my party’s nomination for the office of Prime Minister of Pakistan. On February 8th, we must put an end to the old politics of hate & division. Unite the country around a new politics of services,” Bilawal posted on his official X handle after the meeting.

“Our 10-point plan will serve the interests of the many & not just the privileged few. Together we will defeat poverty, unemployment & inflation. Together we will build a peaceful, prosperous & progressive Pakistan, the 35-year-old leader wrote. Bilawal, the son of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto is contesting from the Lahore (NA-127) constituency, where he would compete with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shaista Pervaiz Malik and a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)-backed candidate. PPP leaders including Secretary General Taj Haider, Syed Khursheed Shah, Rana Farooq Saeed Khan, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Samina Khalid Ghurki, Murad Ali Shah, Chaudhry Aslam Gill, and Ali Badr were present at the meeting. The CEC meeting discussed in detail the party’s campaign for the general election. The meeting also discussed the party election manifesto, which decided to give priority to youth and women empowerment, employment, health, and education, The News International reported. The newspaper report further quoted Bilawal, as talking to the media after the meeting: The law-and-order situation in 2024 is worse than that of 2018. Terrorism has created a law-and-order situation in the country, Bilawal said as he condemned the incidents of terrorism in the country, and said that to steer the country out of crises, crucial decisions would have to be taken. “Military dictator Ziaul Haq had tried to hinder the PPP’s success by imposing Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif in Punjab. Then, former ISI chiefs – Gen Pasha and Gen Faiz Hamid – imposed the PTI and tried to keep the PPP away from Punjab. These efforts have been made because the PPP is a party of the people and represents the common man, while the PML-N and PTI both represent the elite,” Bilawal said. “The PPP will run its campaign in all the provinces of the country and continue its struggle as per the expectations of the party workers. The PPP has always strived for the prosperity of the people. The country is currently facing a plethora of crises, be it on the political, democratic or security front,” Bilawal said. With inputs from agencies