The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) expressed the fear that the government was contemplating to change the form of government from parliamentary to presidential system through rigging in the local bodies elections.
"The way the government got election results in its favour through rigging shows that they want to change form of the government from parliamentary to presidential with an aim of one-man show," said PPPP Deputy secretary-general Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi while talking to this correspondent along with Khawaja Rizwan Alam, the party's media co-ordinator of the monitoring committee for the local government elections in Southern Punjab.
He said all the opposition stood united to dash hopes of the government for change in form of the government.
"The combined opposition will meet in next few days to launch a joint struggle on three-point agenda of revival of constitution minus 17th amendment, democratic rule in the country and fresh elections under supervision of an independent Election Commission," he said.
Shah Mehmood said the government rigged the polls in the first phase of the LB polls and results were changed in a night. "The velocity of rigging could be gauged from the fact that even its own minister, advisors, MNAs, MPAs also accused the Punjab government of rigging," he pointed out.
Despite all kinds of rigging in the first phase of LB polls, he said, the PPPP would not leave the field open for the government and would continue exposing the government's plan of rigging in the second and third phase of the elections. Asked whether the PPPP would continue dialogue with the government after the LB elections, he said the party was clear in talks and would not enter into talks with non-political people and would hold dialogue for the sake of democracy.
He said the Sindh Chief Minister had publicly announced that he would not let the PPPP win elections. "The CEC did take no notice of this threat," he regretted.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005

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