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Islamabad: With just two weeks left before Pakistan's general election, a silent campaign is set to come under fire with Benazir Bhutto's husband taking to the podium for the first time since her assassination.
Asif Ali Zardari’s Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has ensured campaign preparations are already under way for the February 18 polls.
Campaigning for the PPP been virtually been non-existent since Bhutto’s on December 27, yet colourful political banners hang in every town and village, a sign of the party’s political presence.
"Candidates are conducting their own electioneering in their constituencies but the co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari will start the election campaign from February 7 after the Chehlum," said the party’s spokesman Farhatullah Baba.
"There is lot of frustration and tempo [of the campaign] is very slow. From one point of view it is not good but then from another angle the sympathy element is very strong," Babar added.
Zardari's first public campaign after Chehlum, the mourning period, is on February 9 in the rural town of Thatha in Sindh province, senior party official Qaim Ali Shah said.
Western diplomats anticipate unrest at events to marking the end of the mourning of Bhutto, whose death has caused a six week postponement of the country’s national election initially scheduled for January 8.
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