Nearly two days after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that his term would end on August 13, 2023, he announced that his government would hand over power to a caretaker setup before the end of its term next month. There is a sign of the National Assembly. It is being dissolved days before the end of the term to trigger a general election in November.
However, Shehbaz’s change of mind appears to have been due to advice from his ally Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari.
“Zardari, in a meeting with PM Shehbaz on Saturday, asked him to dissolve the National Assembly a few days before the end of the government’s term so that elections can be held in November,” a senior PPP leader told PTI on Sunday.
Why is Shahbaz handing over early?
Under the constitution, if the National Assembly completes its term, elections must be held within 60 days. But if the assembly is dissolved prematurely, even for a day, the government will have 90 days to hold elections.
The five-year term of the National Assembly began on August 12, 2018 under the then Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government of Imran Khan and is set to end under the ruling coalition led by Shehbaz. Addressing a laptop distribution function in Sialkot, Shahbaz said: “Our government will complete its term next month. We hope that we will leave before the completion of the term and the new interim government will take over.
He further said that if his party (PML-N) wins the upcoming general elections, it will change the fortunes of the country.
Shahbaz regrets that neighboring countries have made more progress
Earlier last week, while addressing an event in Islamabad, the Prime Minister had acknowledged that the current situation is not in favor of the country and predicted uncertainty about the timing of the elections. Sharif said, “I assure you that our government will end on August 14 and whenever elections are held, the ECP will announce it and I hope that whichever government comes will give priority to education.” ,
Significantly, the current Shahbaz government came to power in April last year after the overthrow of the Imran Khan regime. Since then, the government has been facing several headwinds – be it economic, inflation or domestic unrest. Khan, facing multiple charges, has demanded early elections on several occasions. However, his demand was rejected by the Election Commission.
In early May this year, when Khan was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau on corruption charges, the country was rocked by large-scale violence, with protesters torching public properties, including the army headquarters.
Pakistan is no longer in the race: Shahbaz
Meanwhile, addressing the event, PM Sharif expressed displeasure over the current situation and acknowledged that the neighboring countries have made more progress than Pakistan, referring to the times when Pakistan used to compete with them. He also expressed disappointment that Pakistan is no longer in the running when it comes to competing with its neighbors. Specifically, Pakistan is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the northwest, and Iran to the west, while China borders it to the northeast. Although relations with New Delhi remained strained, it received huge funding from its “all-weather friend” – China.
The prime minister said he would be “grateful” to China for extending a line of credit of over $5 billion to Pakistan “when we needed it” in the past three months.