Asif Zardari to be PPP’s candidate for presidency: Bilawal

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said on Sunday that this party has nominated co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for presidentship.

He made these remarks while addressing a public gathering in Thatta.

“The country is suffering from the ‘fire of hatred’ and only President Asif Ali Zardari can extinguish this fire,” he said, adding that he was the “force that could unite the federation.”

Bilawal said he rejected an offer from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to accept premiership for two years under a power-sharing arrangement, but he refused.

“They [PML-N] wanted to make their prime minister for the first three years and offered me to accept the role for the next two, but I refused,” said Bilawal.

“I will only become prime minister with the votes of the public, and not by any deal.”

The PPP chairman said he had no greed for the premiership but wanted the betterment of people.

“Pakistan is going through a political and economic crisis. I want to be the one to talk about peoples’ problems,” he said

Commenting about political parties staging protests against election rigging, the PPP chairman said instead of shutting down businesses, the parties should fight their cases at the right forum.

“All parties should think about the peoples interests instead of their own,” he said.

He said PPP too had reservations about the conduct of elections, but would raise its concerns with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECO), and in the courts.

He, however, said the PPP could take to the streets as well if appropriate forums did not provide justice over rigging claims.