Electoral reforms imperative before elections: Zardari

Former PPP President and Co-Chair Asif Ali Zardari said on Wednesday that Pakistan will not advance to the general elections until after the government has implemented electoral reforms.

“The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and election reforms are part of our game plan,” the former president said at a news conference, noting that if polls take place before reforms, then any government that comes into office will have to deal with the problems that past and present regimes face.

The process of electoral reforms will take three to four months, he said, adding that the government will have to do it before the elections.

“We do not want a chosen person back in power”, Zardari said, adding that he convinced PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on electoral reforms prior to the elections.

He said the government will take all the coalition parties into confidence before making decisions.

The PPP Co-Chair stated that the opposition is now asking for elections after the coalition parties have formed a government. “We did not deny to hold elections. We will hold elections after the electoral reforms,” he added.

“No one was listening when I was talking about new elections when this government [led by PTI] took office,” said Zardari, adding that the coalition parties did away with the selected government after working together.

Criticizing the former prime minister, the co-chair of the PPP asked: “What will the chairman of the PTI, Imran Khan do by holding the elections in the near future. What has the government done for the nation over the past four years?

He went on to say that Khan misled the Pakistanis through his rhetoric. “They [the Pakistanis overseas] don’t know what’s happening on the ground,” he added.

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