Zardari leaving PPP in crisis?

Asif Ali Zardari, outgoing president saddled by corruption allegations, defied critics by staying in office for five years but steps down next month leaving his party in crisis. Zardari did not seek re-election at Tuesday's vote for a new ceremonial head of state and his Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is staring at a future of deep uncertainty.
The PPP government was the first in Pakistan's history to complete a full five-year term and transfer power at the ballot box. But after a rudderless campaign, the party lost badly on polling day in May. The president is supposed to be apolitical and Zardari no longer has an official role in the PPP, though many see him as still the most influential string-puller behind the scenes. Senior PPP figure and former information minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said he would take the party forward after leaving office.
"He may not take part in practical politics because of the (constitutional) two-year bar, but that does not prevent him from advising and guiding his party," Kaira said. Zardari is rarely seen in public and many observers expect him to spend much of his time abroad, concerned for his personal security and possible criminal proceedings at home. Analyst Hasan Askari warned his prolonged absence could have repercussions as the PPP, weakened and divided, seeks to rebuild from its election drubbing.
"If Asif Ali Zardari will be shuttling between Karachi and Dubai then he will not be as effective a leader for the PPP as the party needs at the moment," Askari told AFP. "That will create problems for the PPP because there is a crisis of leadership in the party." Zardari's son Bilawal is PPP chairman but is too young to stand for parliament until September and is seen as a reluctant heir to the political legacy of his murdered mother, Benazir Bhutto. He is young and inexperienced, and would need the experienced hand of his father to guide him, said Askari.
"If Zardari is not settled in Pakistan, then he will not be able to provide that support to Bilawal." During his presidency the 57-year-old Zardari withstood enormous pressure from a judiciary determined to put him on trial for corruption, sacrificing his first prime minister. The allegations dated back to the 1990s, when he and Bhutto stood accused of using Swiss bank accounts to launder $12 million allegedly paid in bribes.