File photo of Ahsan Iqbal. Aamir Qureshi—AFP
Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Nawaz Sharif will visit all provinces of the country from Nov. 10 as part of his electoral campaign to secure public support ahead of the upcoming general elections, party Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal announced on Tuesday.
Addressing journalists after the former prime minister chaired a formal party meeting—his first since his return to Pakistan on Oct. 21 after four years in self-imposed exile—at Jati Umra in Lahore, Iqbal said the party had decided to seek applications from potential candidates for the polls by Nov. 10. Central and provincial election boards would be established to award tickets for elections, he added.
According to Iqbal, the party has also setup a manifesto committee under Senator Irfan Siddiqui. He said the new manifesto would focus on ground realities, adding its primary focus would be on judicial and economic reforms. To a question, he said the PMLN believed elections would be held at the end of January 2024 in line with earlier statements of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). He stressed there should be no further delays to the schedule.
To a question on whether politicians’ decisions were being taken by someone else—a euphemism for the establishment—he said the PMLN was not looking to anyone and was making its own decisions. “It is our wish that Nawaz Sharif becomes the country’s next prime minister,” he said, emphasizing that the PMLN leader had been ousted from electoral politics via a conspiracy and false cases.
Per sources, the PMLN huddle also decided that Nawaz would initiate meetings with the leaders of other political parties, particularly the Pakistan Peoples Party, in a bid to placate them ahead of polls.