Q to negotiate seat adjustment with PPP

ISLAMABAD - After the Senate election going to be held on March 2, the PML-Q leadership is likely to sit with ruling PPP Co Chairman Asif Ali Zardari to discuss the seat adjustment formula for the next general elections, sources disclosed to The Nation here on Tuesday.
They said that the party Chief Ch Shujaat Hussain has been busy in negotiating seat adjustment for the coming Senate elections that has almost done and PML-Q Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayed has been elected unopposed Senator while three more seats would be given to Q-League.
“After the Senate elections, the heads of both the parties would again sit together to negotiate the formula for the coming general elections,” he said while adding that the negotiations in this regard had started earlier, however, the same were postponed as the coalition govt had to face the critical national and international issues and this matter was put aside. He informed that a meeting was held between Ch Pervaiz Elahi  and Faryal Talpur in Lahore during the last month of 2011 but after this, no such meeting was held in this regard.
He told that most likely the leaderships of both parties would decide to support their winners of 2008 general elections while in such constituencies where the candidates of Q-League and PPP could not win the last elections, the both parties would support the runner-ups of 2008 elections. The same formula was used in the by-elections on a provincial seat of Punjab Assembly from Yzman (Bahawalpur) where PML-Q candidate Ehsan ul Haq had defeated N-League in November last. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of PML-N MPA and the runner-up was from PML-Q. According to this formula, the PPP did not contest the election and supported Q-League candidate who had won this by election. However, it is pertinent to mention here that number of Q-Leaguers who had contested the last general elections on PML-Q tickets have now quit the party or have formed their own forward blocs who include former foreign minister Kursheed Kasuri, Awais Leghari, Jahangir Khan Tarin, Haroon Akhtar, Gohar Ayub and Riaz Fatyana while dozens of their MPAs in PA elected in the 2008 elections have formed a forward bloc and are supporting PML-N.

 Similarly, another bloc (PML-Q Likeminded) is also supporting Chaudhry brothers’ rival group - PML-N.
On the other hand, number of remaining Parliamentarians of PML-Q is reportedly in contact with major political parties like PPP and PML-N and may quit Q-League after the announcement of general elections 2013.

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