Transparent election imperative for strengthening democracy in country: Bilawal

Transparent election imperative for strengthening democracy in country: Bilawal
Source: File Photo

Timergara (Web Desk/Agencies): Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari here Saturday said that holding of free, fair, and transparent election was imperative for strengthening democracy in the country.

Addressing a worker’s convention in Khyber Pakhtun Khawa's (KP) Timergara, the PPP chief said his party strongly believed in the power of the masses, democracy, and transparent election and vowed to bring improvement in people’s lives after winning the election.

Bilawal Bhutto said that he had no political opponent in the country rather his fight was against price hikes, poverty, and inflation.

“We believe in transparent elections instead of ‘selection’ and that the country would move forward only when all state institutions perform duties and functions under its constitutional domain,” he said. In the past, he said that the country as well as the people of Pakistan had suffered due to confrontation among institutions.

He said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) founder had failed to fulfill his pledge regarding the construction of five million houses and providing jobs to one million people while the problems of people of KP increased during the 10-year-long tenure of PTI.

Bilawal said that a veteran politician, who had served three times as the country’s prime minister should focus on the party election manifesto and turn his ‘respect for votes’ slogan into reality, adding people of Pakistan would not accept ‘selection’ anymore.

"Only a political leader who comes into power with people’s votes can make free and bold decisions in the country’s and masses’ interest rather than a “selected politician,” he said.

The PPP chairman said said that political victimization and self-interest politics were not in the country’s interest and democratic values.

"Democracy strengthens with political tolerance, reconciliation, and free elections," he said, adding that holding free, fair, and transparent polls was the basic responsibility of the caretaker government and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Bilawal Bhutto said he has full confidence in people of Pakistan and urged them to make the right decision in the February 8, 2024, general election and expressed the hope that the masses would not disappoint PPP this time.

He claimed that all other political parties’ governments except the PPP failed to deliver while his party was the only hope with the ability to remove the sense of deprivation of the people of KP, who were deceived by the name of so-called “Change” in 10 years.

The PPP chief urged party workers to get unite for general election and inform electorates about the party manifesto in every nook and corner of the KP province.

Bilawal said that the PPP would continue to hold party conventions and vowed that the mission of his mother Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and grandfather Shaheed Zaufikar Ali Bhutto would be completed.