LAHORE, Sept 3: PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq has proposed that the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy should be converted into an election alliance for a better performance in the next polls. People’s Party Parliamentarians Secretary-General Raja Pervaiz Ashraf calls the proposal positive, on which discussions can be held. PML-N leader Raja Zafarul Haq told Dawn on Saturday that parties in the ARD had not been able to give a good performance in the 2002 general elections because they had contested the polls from separate platforms.

According to him, adjustments between the PML-N and the PPP could be made only on about two per cent seats and both parties put up their candidates against each other on the rest.

The policy, he said, benefited the MMA, the six-party alliance which had contested the election from one platform. He said MMA Secretary-General Maulana Fazlur Rehman was appointed the opposition leader in the National Assembly only because he headed an alliance which had taken part in the polls with the same symbol.

Raja said that the ARD would have to convert itself into an electoral alliance also to be able to frustrate the government’s designs.

PPP Secretary-General Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said the ARD could become an election alliance if other parties supported the idea.

“It is possible. An election alliance will have a far better impact in the polls”, the PPP leader said, making it clear that so far the matter had not been discussed in the party at any level. Although the ARD comprises 16 parties, only the PML-N and PPP are the major components. The smaller parties are also in favour of making the ARD an election alliance.