Former PM Imran faces popularity test in Punjab by-elections

 Analysts say the polls give the PTI chairman an opportunity to gauge how well his campaign to garner popular support is going.

July 16, 2022


Islamabad:

Former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan faces a popularity test tomorrow (Sunday) in the by-elections to 20 Punjab Assembly seats, which will decide the fate of the provincial government led by Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz.

Sunday's vote in Punjab is being seen as a potential bellwether for national elections that must be held by October next year, although former Prime Minister Imran Khan has not been elected since he was ousted by a no-confidence vote in April. A campaign has been conducted across the country for polling.

Twenty seats in the Punjab Assembly fell vacant after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) defector lawmakers at its request when they switched allegiances.

These conspiracies led to a change of government in the province, which is now headed by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif's son Hamza.

Analysts say the polls give the PTI chairman an opportunity to gauge how well his campaign to garner public support is going.

"If he wins, he will say 'the people are with me' and increase pressure for new elections," political analyst Hassan Askari told AFP.

Also Read: Preparations for by-elections in Punjab enter final stage

He added that if he loses, "Khan will definitely call it a rigged election".

The former prime minister has drawn thousands of rallies across the country since being ousted, delivering lengthy speeches claiming the coalition government was imposed on the country by a US-led conspiracy.

He also blames the current government for rising inflation, although most analysts agree that Prime Minister Shehbaz inherited the country's economic woes - who this week agreed to a bailout package with the International Monetary Fund. Some relief was given by the Resumption Agreement.

The PML-N needs to win at least half of the 20 seats in Punjab or it will hand over control of the provincial assembly to the PTI and its allies.

"The stakes are high on both sides," Askari said.

The future political direction in Pakistan will remain uncertain even in the post-election period.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Former Supreme Court Judge Azmat Saeed out of IPPs case.

Image
 The government has replaced him with Justice (R) Maqbool Baqir. Islamabad: The PML-N-led coalition government has appointed former Supreme Court judge Sheikh Azmat Saeed as a mediator to settle a Rs 52 billion dispute with 12 Independent Power Producers (IPPs) set up under the 2002 policy. Is nominated He was replaced by another former Supreme Court judge, Maqbool Baqir, who retired on April 4. Justice (R) Azmat was part of the bench which had declared former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ineligible for life. PML-N supporters also accuse him of forming a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on WhatsApp in the Panama case. Justice (R) Azmat was presiding over the bench which had disqualified former PML-N MPA Daniel Aziz in a contempt of court case. The PTI-led government had recently appointed him head of the Commission of Inquiry in the Broadsheet case. He was also the head of the Commission for Regularization of Housing Societies in Punjab. A notification issued by the Law Ministry said, &qu
Read more

Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani's WhatsApp account was hacked.

Image
 Wednesday, August 03, 2022                                       Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani. - App/File Chairman Senate's contact with WhatsApp management through email. WhatsApp management says that it may take up to seven days for them to restore the account. The management team assured that Sanjrani's account is monitored and the data is completely secure. Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani's WhatsApp account was hacked on Wednesday, which may take a week to restore. Chairman Senate contacted WhatsApp management through email to file a complaint. The management team of the Meta-owned instant messaging app assured Sanjrani that the account was monitored and the data was completely secure. He added that he would investigate the matter further. The management further said that it may take seven days for them to restore his WhatsApp account. PTI Chairman Imran Khan's Instagram account was briefly hacked earlier this week, after which it was restored. W
Read more

Chairman PTI explains the reason behind the move of dissolving provincial assemblies.

Image
Chairman PTI  explains the reason behind the move of dissolving provincial assemblies. Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has offered negotiations to the federal government to hold general elections in the country on Friday. However, he said that if the government does not opt ​​for talks, it may decide to dissolve the assemblies at a future date, which he did not specify. In a series of videos posted on the party's official social media account on Friday afternoon, Imran invited the government to discuss holding general elections. Claiming that Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi have assured full support for Imran Khan's decision to dissolve the provincial assembly, the PTI chief said that If both assemblies are dissolved, then elections will be held. 66 percent of the country. He said that whenever I decide to dissolve the assembly, he will stand with me. Either sit and negotiate when
Read more