After his party took over the state assembly in Punjab, the nation’s most populous province, the former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan reinforced his call for an early election on Monday.
In the Punjab by-election, 20 seats were up for grabs. It was viewed as a popularity test for the former international cricket star who was ousted in April after receiving a no-confidence vote.
He won 15 votes for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, while Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) took four, and one vote went to an independent.
Even though Khan has been actively campaigning for an earlier election across the nation since being ousted, Sunday’s vote was seen as a proxy for the national elections that must be held by October of next year.
“The only way forward from here is to hold free and transparent elections,” Khan tweeted early Monday after the Punjab votes were tallied.
“Any other way will only lead to increased political uncertainty and further economic chaos.”
Since being ousted, Khan has attracted large crowds to rallies, delivering rambling speeches in which he claims the Pakistani government was imposed there by a US-led conspiracy.
Although most analysts agree Sharif inherited the nation’s economic problems, which were somewhat alleviated last week by an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to resume a rescue package, he also attributes the current government’s high inflation.
Punjab’s outcome was a result of the nation’s current economic difficulties, which include spending nearly half of its income to pay off crushing foreign debt.
Sharif had to end fuel subsidies in order to satisfy IMF requirements for the continuation of a $7.2 billion aid package, which effectively increased fuel prices by more than 50% in less than two months.
The election commission disqualified 20 PTI members for switching parties, prompting the call for the Punjab assembly vote.
As a result, Hamza Sharif, the son of the prime minister, is likely to end his brief tenure as chief minister of Punjab.
