ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Monday demanded Pakistan's chief election commissioner step down from his post and called for an early election in the South Asian country, a day after his party swept the high-stakes by-elections in the Punjab province.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won 15 out of 20 seats in Sunday's by-polls, which brought its overall number in the 371-member Punjab Assembly to 188, two seats more than the simple majority of 186 needed to rule the country's most populous and politically vital province.
The former prime minister has said his ouster through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April was orchestrated by the United States — a charge denied by Washington — and has again demanded early elections in the country, already hit hard by record inflation, currency devaluation and depleting foreign exchange reserves.
"If political unrest has been created, then the best way out is to let the people decide," Khan said, in a televised address Monday evening.
"I am still saying this that the nation has just one way of free and fair elections. And a transparent election can never be held under this election commission."
He said the PTI had no confidence in the current election commission that had repeatedly "stung" the party.
"I will ask the election commissioner... you should kindly resign," the former premier said. "The nation has no confidence in you."
Khan said the country needed investment for which political stability was necessary, and free and fair elections were the only way to achieve it.
He urged the nation to ponder how it could have transparent elections for the country to return to the path of development.
The general elections in Pakistan are scheduled to take place in August 2023, but analysts say the ruling coalition, led by PM Shehbaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, could find it difficult to complete its term after the results of Punjab by-polls.
“Imran Khan is demanding fresh elections since his ouster from power in April,” Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a professor of political science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, told Arab News.
“He will now increase pressure on the federal government for early polls to keep his political capital intact.”
Sunday’s by-polls in Punjab were also seen as a popularity test for the ruling PML-N and the opposition PTI parties.
“The Punjab by-polls have proven as a referendum against the ruling coalition and all political parties should now sit together to mutually decide a timeframe for next elections,” said political analyst Adnan Rehmat.
