Islamabad: Asif Ali Zardari appears set to secure another term as Pakistan's President even if his ruling PPP fails to win a majority in Parliament in the next general election in 2013, a media report said on Monday.
However, Zardari has to ensure that elections for half the seats in the 100-member Senate, or upper house of Parliament, take place according to schedule in March next year, a close aide of the President told The Express Tribune newspaper.
"That is what he is striving for now. He believes if the Senate elections are held under the current set-up according to the scheduled timing, nobody can stop him from winning another term," said an official from the PPP considered one of the closest allies of Zardari.
Senate elections, for which the provincial assemblies constitute the electoral college, are set to give the PPP a simple majority in the upper house if they are held under the current set-up, the report said.
Members of the Senate, National Assembly or lower house of Parliament and four provincial assemblies vote to elect the President.
The presidential polls are held on one-man one-vote basis in Parliament. But votes of members of provincial assemblies are counted in proportion to 65-strong Balochistan legislature an equation that would render the anticipated strength of PPP's main opponent PML-N in Punjab almost irrelevant.
PPP masterminds assessing the political situation believe there will be fierce competition in the next general election.
Their view is that the difference in the number of seats between the PPP and PML-N will be "very small though highly
significant."
Zardari already has a formula to swing numbers in his favour, the report said.
According to sources in the PPP, Zardari wants to secure a promise from the PML-Q that it will vote for him in the next presidential election in return for a seat adjustment that the two parties are negotiating in Punjab for next parliamentary polls.
A PML-Q leader too said supporting Zardari in his bid to seek another term was part of the PPP-PML-Q alliance.
Zardari reportedly wants similar arrangements with his other allies, including the Awami National Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, to make sure he gains maximum votes from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
In Sindh, the PPP's strategists seem sure the party will be in a comfortable position to bag a simple majority, riding on its popularity in the province and recent controversies that have hit its main rival in Karachi, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
Balochistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, according to the assessment by Zardari's associates, can be
managed "one way or the other."
An official said, "All these things put together can help Zardari win another term ... and that is what he is hoping
for."
According to an earlier report, the PPP was contemplating the option of calling fresh parliamentary polls immediately
after the crucial elections for half the Senate seats scheduled for March next year.
The move, according to top party leaders, was being discussed in circles close to Zardari.
One reason for holding an early general election was a "constant" fear in the ranks of the PPP that the military might take advantage of any "extreme" political instability that would arise if opposition parties managed to create "chaos on the streets," the sources added.
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