The political party of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was ousted from office in April, won a “crucial” by-election in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Sunday, prompting Khan on Monday to call for fresh national elections, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), of which Imran Khan serves as chairman, routed Pakistan’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N) party on June 17 in a by-election in Punjab, Dawn reported on July 18.
PTI beat arch-rival PML-N on its home turf to secure at least 15 of 20 vacant seats in Punjab’s provincial assembly.
“Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, has long been a bastion of support for the PML-N of Mr Sharif [current Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif], and his older brother, three-time former PM Nawaz Sharif,” the BBC observed Monday.
“But the party won just four of the seats in Sunday’s by-elections, with one going to an independent candidate,” the British broadcaster detailed.
“The result in Punjab is a major blow for current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who leads the PML-N. His already weak coalition government’s fate now hangs by a thread,” the BBC noted.
Authorities called for Punjab’s provincial assembly to hold a by-election on July 17 after members of Pakistan’s parliament representing PTI were recently disqualified for switching allegiance to the PML-N by voting for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s son, Hamza Shehbaz, as Chief Minister of Punjab. Hamza Shehbaz now looks set to lose his post as Punjab Chief Minister as a result of Sunday’s by-election.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan responded to the results of Punjab’s poll on Sunday in a statement issued by his official Twitter account.
Pakistani former prime minister and leader of the opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan (front 2R) waves to supporters during a protest rally against the inflation, political destabilization, and continued hikes in fuel prices, in Rawalpindi on July 2, 2022. (Photo by FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP via Getty Images)
“The only way forward from here is to hold fair & free elections under a credible ECP [Election Commission of Pakistan]. Any other path will only lead to greater political uncertainty & further economic chaos,” Khan wrote on July 17.
Khan has consistently urged Pakistan to hold fresh national elections since he was ousted from the office of Pakistan’s prime minister on April 10. Pakistan is not scheduled to hold national elections until October 2023. The momentum gained by PTI over the weekend in Punjab could increase the chances of Khan successfully triggering national polls earlier than currently slated.
Pakistan’s parliament voted to eject Khan from the prime minister’s office on April 10. Khan temporarily stayed the planned no-confidence motion days before it occurred. He and his administration alleged that foreign interlopers — namely U.S. State Department South and Central Asia bureau chief Donald Lu — had instigated the vote, thus making it unconstitutional. Pakistan’s supreme court overturned the no-confidence motion’s temporary designation as unconstitutional on April 7. The top court reinstated plans to hold the vote, which successfully removed Khan from office three days later.
Khan has claimed that his ouster was part of a greater effort by Washington to enact regime change in Pakistan. The leader continues to enjoy substantial popular support in Pakistan after serving as the nation’s prime minister from August 2018 to April 2022. Khan has vowed to fight Pakistan’s “imported government,” or the Shehbaz Sharif administration elected to replace his, since April 10. The politician spurred thousands of PTI supporters to march to Islamabad alongside him on May 25 as part of his growing campaign to demand fresh national elections.