ABUJA, Nigeria
The provincial assembly in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been dissolved, the second such move in less than a week as former Prime Minister Imran Khan pushes for early national elections.
The governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Haji Ghulam Ali, on Wednesday signed a letter dissolving the provincial assembly “with immediate effect”.
He was acting on a request by the provincial chief minister, Mahmood Khan, a senior member of Khan’s Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
On Saturday, the assembly in Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab, was dissolved following an order by PTI chief Khan, who since his removal as prime minister last April, has been demanding immediate polls, otherwise scheduled in October this year.
Pakistan’s constitution says new elections must be held within three months of the dissolution of a provincial legislature if the house fails in setting up an interim government.
The South Asian nation historically conducts federal and provincial elections simultaneously, but the constitution allows for separate poll dates as well.
Khan’s PTI hopes the dissolution of two of the country’s four assemblies will force Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government to announce immediate general elections.
“We will return with two-thirds majority not just in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but all of Pakistan, and form a government on the basis of our performance,” provincial chief minister Khan said in a video message on Tuesday after he wrote to the governor to dissolve the assembly.
PTI leader Musarrat Jamshed Cheema told Al Jazeera it is imperative that the government thinks beyond its “self-interests” and goes into early elections.
“You will have more than 70 percent of Pakistan contesting the provincial elections after the dissolution of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab assemblies. Why are they reluctant to hold general elections? Not only will the delay damage them politically, it is harming Pakistan’s situation as well,” she said.
