Islamabad: Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz SharifCoalition government dealt a joint blow as ousted Prime Minister Imran KHAN Reiterated his demand for general elections after his party’s thumping victory in the crucial by-elections to 20 assembly seats held on Sunday. Punjab The province and country’s currency fell to an all-time low against the US dollar in interbank trade on Monday.
As the government grapples with runaway inflation and an energy crisis, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) inflicted its worst defeat on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Punjab, thrice considered a bastion of the East. goes. PM Nawaz Sharif and his family including his brother and current PM Shahbaz. Khan’s party took 15 seats, the PML-N four and one went to an independent candidate.
“The only way forward from here is to conduct fair and free elections under a credible ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan). Any other path will only lead to greater political uncertainty and further economic chaos,” said Khan, who was removed from the post of PM on April 10 after he lost a trust vote in Parliament.
PM’s spokesman Malik Ahmed Khan told news agency PTI that the PML-N leadership would decide on dissolution of the National Assembly and holding early elections in consultation with its allies.
The demand for a premature election (elections are to be held by October 2023) has been one of Khan’s key pressure points against the Shahbaz-led coalition, which is navigating a nation through its worst economic pain. Khan said the PML-N was now left with only one option: “immediately call for new general elections”.
Experts considered the by-election results a foreshadowing of deepening political instability. He cited the depreciation of the Pakistani currency against the dollar as an indicator. The dollar was sold on Monday for the Pakistani rupee at Rs 215.25, which is Rs 4.3 more than the previous week’s Rs 210.95.
The result in Punjab is a major setback for PM Sharif, who leads the PML-N and whose son Hamza Shahbazi All set to lose his post as CM of the most populous province of Pakistan. Hamza’s chances of winning re-election on July 22 hang by a thread.
Saad bin Nasser, director of Metis Global, a web-based financial data and analytics portal, said the by-election results had raised concerns about the future of the coalition government.
Analyst Komal Mansoor said the rupee has depreciated because of Sunday’s elections. “The PTI victory has cast doubt on the stability of the present government and the sentiment has turned negative again,” he said.
Till mid-April, Punjab was governed by PTI and its alliance partners. After the removal of Khan’s government that month, his party’s CM Usman Buzdar resigned. The move paved the way for the PML-N to make Hamza chief minister with the support of two dozen disgruntled PTI MPs.
PTI successfully petitioned the Election Commission to evict MLAs who voted against the party and violated the country’s anti-defection laws. This left 20 seats vacant in Punjab, for which voting was held on Sunday.
Khan had campaigned vigorously against defectors of his party, which attracted thousands of people in his rallies. He accused the coalition government of conspiring with a powerful military and the US to remove him from office. People believed him, if the results were any indication. His “Jihad” against the dynastic politics of former PM Nawaz Sharif and former President Asif Ali Zardari further cemented his image among the masses.
“If the new crisis-ridden government was looking to boost its mandate, it clearly didn’t,” tweeted Michael Kugelman, a South Asian affairs specialist at Washington’s Wilson Center. “It is now stuck with a free-falling economy, it lacks a public mandate, and it faces a tremendous opposition.”
As the government grapples with runaway inflation and an energy crisis, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) inflicted its worst defeat on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Punjab, thrice considered a bastion of the East. goes. PM Nawaz Sharif and his family including his brother and current PM Shahbaz. Khan’s party took 15 seats, the PML-N four and one went to an independent candidate.
“The only way forward from here is to conduct fair and free elections under a credible ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan). Any other path will only lead to greater political uncertainty and further economic chaos,” said Khan, who was removed from the post of PM on April 10 after he lost a trust vote in Parliament.
PM’s spokesman Malik Ahmed Khan told news agency PTI that the PML-N leadership would decide on dissolution of the National Assembly and holding early elections in consultation with its allies.
The demand for a premature election (elections are to be held by October 2023) has been one of Khan’s key pressure points against the Shahbaz-led coalition, which is navigating a nation through its worst economic pain. Khan said the PML-N was now left with only one option: “immediately call for new general elections”.
Experts considered the by-election results a foreshadowing of deepening political instability. He cited the depreciation of the Pakistani currency against the dollar as an indicator. The dollar was sold on Monday for the Pakistani rupee at Rs 215.25, which is Rs 4.3 more than the previous week’s Rs 210.95.
The result in Punjab is a major setback for PM Sharif, who leads the PML-N and whose son Hamza Shahbazi All set to lose his post as CM of the most populous province of Pakistan. Hamza’s chances of winning re-election on July 22 hang by a thread.
Saad bin Nasser, director of Metis Global, a web-based financial data and analytics portal, said the by-election results had raised concerns about the future of the coalition government.
Analyst Komal Mansoor said the rupee has depreciated because of Sunday’s elections. “The PTI victory has cast doubt on the stability of the present government and the sentiment has turned negative again,” he said.
Till mid-April, Punjab was governed by PTI and its alliance partners. After the removal of Khan’s government that month, his party’s CM Usman Buzdar resigned. The move paved the way for the PML-N to make Hamza chief minister with the support of two dozen disgruntled PTI MPs.
PTI successfully petitioned the Election Commission to evict MLAs who voted against the party and violated the country’s anti-defection laws. This left 20 seats vacant in Punjab, for which voting was held on Sunday.
Khan had campaigned vigorously against defectors of his party, which attracted thousands of people in his rallies. He accused the coalition government of conspiring with a powerful military and the US to remove him from office. People believed him, if the results were any indication. His “Jihad” against the dynastic politics of former PM Nawaz Sharif and former President Asif Ali Zardari further cemented his image among the masses.
“If the new crisis-ridden government was looking to boost its mandate, it clearly didn’t,” tweeted Michael Kugelman, a South Asian affairs specialist at Washington’s Wilson Center. “It is now stuck with a free-falling economy, it lacks a public mandate, and it faces a tremendous opposition.”