Islamabad, Pakistan – Yet another political crisis is brewing in Pakistan after President Arif Alvi bypassed the country’s election commission and unilaterally announced election dates for Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
In a letter to Sikandar Sultan Raja, Pakistan’s chief election commissioner, Alvi on Monday said he was using his constitutional authority to declare April 9 as the poll date in the two provinces.
The two assemblies were controlled by former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party before they were dissolved last month as part of Khan’s bid to force early general elections, otherwise due later this year.
“I am under oath to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan … Therefore I have felt it necessary to perform my constitutional and statutory duty to announce the date of elections,” Alvi, who is a senior leader of the PTI, wrote to Raja.
Following a meeting on Tuesday to discuss Alvi’s decision, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a statement said it will seek further advice from the attorney general of Pakistan and other constitutional and legal experts over the matter.
Since his removal from office in April last year, cricketer-turned-politician Khan has been holding public rallies across Pakistan to demand early polls.
According to Pakistan’s constitution, provincial governors should announce new elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the assembly.
The controversy has only exacerbated the political instability in Pakistan at a time when the country is battling multiple challenges, including making fiscal adjustments to unlock crucial International Monetary Fund (IMF) funds urgently required to keep the economy afloat.
The ECP said it needed 15 billion rupees ($57m) to hold the elections in the two provinces. It also asked law enforcement agencies to provide security for the exercise. However, both the finance and defence ministries turned down its request.
