Sharif’s party unveils Balochistan line-up – and a high-risk strategy

The PML-N has made clear it is going all guns blazing in smaller provinces, a move that may rub former President Zardari’s PPP the wrong way, potentially vitiating the electoral battle ahead betwen th two titans of Pakistani politics.

By Nusrat Shaheen

ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Wednesday announced it is fielding a candidate for each of Balochistan’s 16 National Assembly general seats, and for 42 of the province’s 51 Provincial Assembly general seats.

“Prayers and best of luck for the upcoming General Elections 2024”, said Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar who chairs the party’s Central Election Cell in a post over social media platform X. “May Allah SWT bless you with glorious victory.”

Prayers and best of luck for the upcoming General Elections 2024. May Allah SWT bless you with glorious victory. Ameen🌺🤲🌺 pic.twitter.com/L80tPqko5Y
— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) January 3, 2024

The sparsely populated Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province in terms of area, is represented by a total of 20 National Assembly seats, 16 of which are filled through popular vote while 4 are reserved for women. The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan has 65 seats in all, including 51 general seats, 11 reserved for women, and three reserved for non-Muslims.

The reserved seats in both the houses are allotted to political parties proportional to their success on general seats.

It is not clear if Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) will field candidates for the remaining nine provincial assembly seats. However, even the current line up comes across as a flex for a party that has in the past remained content with a limited presence in the province.

The move reflects a shifting of strategy for Sharif, who has traditionally formed alliances with nationalists parties in smaller provinces instead of extending his own party’s reach. It has been on the cards for a while now, which is why the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former President Asif Zardari has been insecure about its near-stranglehold of Sindh, another smaller province.

This is probably why the young PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto has grown increasingly antagonistic towards Sharif and his party despite the close embrace of the two political titans that helped oust former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

As the election battle heats up in the days ahead, the tussle between the two parties is likely to grow, prompting the PPP to mount a stronger challenge to the PML-N’s power base in Punjab, the most populous province.

Zardari, in his chosen role of an elder statesman, has already taken measures to ensure the contest does not devolve into acrimony, but given the history of bitter rivalry between the two parties, there is no telling which way it might go. Hanging in the balance is the political stability of the country.

Dar’s social media post was accompanied by a three-page official announcement on his stationery as the head of his party’s central election cell for the 2024 General Election, and listed 58 candidates who it said had been awarded party tickets, alongwith their constituencies.

It said the awards had been approved by the party quaid Nawaz Sharif, its president former Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and the PML-N central parliamentary board for the General Election 2024 “[a]fter conclusion of the interviews of the candidates”.

Given below is the complete list of constituencies and the candidates anointed Wednesday by Sharif’s party from Balochistan.