Bhutto wins seat in EUSA by-elections

The eldest daughter of Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated former prime minister of Pakistan, has been elected onto the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) within Edinburgh University Students' Union (EUSA).

The 18 year old Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari is in her first year studying English literature. She was the second most popular candidate out of the 29 students vying for 20 seats in the first year elections and by-elections held last week at the University of Edinburgh. Despite submitting her candidacy details to EUSA just two days before the ballot, Bakhtawar secured 129 votes.

Also a political figure in Pakistan, Miss Bhutto Zardari entered into national politics in July when she was made head of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) women’s wing. In a recent television interview she said that she had not ruled out a career in politics: “I definitely want to help people in Pakistan. I want to continue my mum’s mission in any way I can, whether it’s politics or something else. I haven’t decided yet,” she said.

Miss Bhutto Zardari's foray into student politics follows in the footsteps of her mother who, in 1976, became the first Asian female to be elected as the president of the Oxford University union.

Indicative of the undergraduate's close connection to Pakistani politics—and of the instability in the region—Bakhtawar’s freshers' week was disrupted by US attacks on alleged extremist camps in Pakistan close to the Afghani border. Sensing a difference of opinion between Washington and Whitehall, the Pakistani government appealed to the British government. Instead of taking Bakhtawar to university as planned, her father—the president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari—flew to London and held meetings with Gordon Brown and the foreign secretary David Milliband.

Critics have argued that the spirit of "family politics" is an unfair burden for the Bhutto children.

Bilawal, Bakhtawar’s 19 year-old brother and an Oxford University undergraduate, was appointed co-chairman of the PPP shortly after their mother’s death. He has been hailed as a likely successor to the Bhutto dynasty but Bakhtawar’s charismatic personality and staunch belief in equal rights for women has led to speculation that she could be the next in line.

Parallels have been drawn with the previous Bhutto generation and the pressure Benazir felt to take on the leadership after her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was overthrown in the 1977 coup headed by General Zia ul-Haq. Zulfikar was later executed. Lengthy in-house squabbles for the succession followed.

Elsewhere, of the 110 seats available in the student elections 102 candidacies were received from 79 students. Only 41 seats were contested and many members returned unopposed due to the lack of nominees. On average, six per cent of the students at the University of Edinburgh voted on National Union of Students (NUS) delegates. First year nominations were the most contested on recent record, mostly owing to a campaign of door-knocking by EUSA representatives in halls of residence across the city.

The elected NUS delegate’s key campaign criteria include pushing for fairer student finance and improving feedback and quality of teaching. Lobbying for 24-hour library opening, saying no to HMO quotas and the abolition of tuition fees also featured in candidates' manifestos.