Fingers crossed as who will become interim PM after govt quits today
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Pakistan's 15th National Assembly was due to be dissolved Wednesday (today), likely to give way to a technocrat-led interim government to oversee an election. Both the outgoing prime minister and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly will hold a consultation later today to finalize the name of an interim premier, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will send advice to President Dr Arif Alvi to dissolve the National Assembly today. As per the law, if the President did not take up the summary within 48 hours, it would stand implemented and the Assembly would be dissolved.
The Prime Minister has announced to dissolve the Assembly three days before the expiry of its term on August 12.
He is currently holding consultations with the coalition parties to agree on a neutral interim prime minister, who would be acceptable to the people.
Opposition Leader Raja Riaz would propose three names for the coveted interim premier’s slot from the opposition side. It is expected that a consensus would be reached on the name between the prime minister and Raja Riaz as he is considered a friendly opposition leader.
In case of a deadlock between the PM and the opposition leader,
If the two leaders fail to agree on a name for interim PM, the matter will be forwarded to a parliamentary committee to choose a caretaker PM. If that does not settle the matter, then the task will be forwarded to the chief election commissioner who will select the interim premier.
An important meeting of the outgoing federal cabinet will also take place today which will review the assemblies’ dissolution and other political and economic affairs.
According to Article 52 of the Constitution, the National Assembly is elected for a period of five years. If the Assembly is not dissolved, it will dissolve automatically on August 12 as the parliament is completing its five years term on Saturday.
Soon after the dissolution of the parliament, the Election Commission of Pakistan will have to make new delimitations of the constituencies under Sub Clause 5 of Article 51.
After the fresh delimitations of constituencies, the ECP will release the election schedule.
By law, elections should be held within 90 days of parliament's dissolution, but the outgoing government has already warned they are likely to be delayed.
The country has been in political turmoil since the former international cricket star Imran Khan was booted from power in April last year, culminating in his being jailed for graft at the weekend following a months-long crackdown on his party.
The former premier cannot take part in the next general elections as the Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday disqualified him for five years following his conviction in the Toshakhana case last week.
The unlikely coalition between the country's usually feuding dynastic parties -- which came together to kick out former prime minister Imran Khan -- has won little popular support during its 18 months at the helm of the world's fifth-most populous country.
The economy is still in the doldrums despite a new International Monetary Fund bailout, with crippling foreign debt, soaring inflation, and widespread unemployment from factories made idle because they lack foreign currency to buy raw materials.
"Economic decisions are invariably tough and often unpopular, requiring a government with a longer tenure to effectively implement them," said Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency think tank.
"This election holds significance as it will result in a five-year term for a new government, which ideally should be empowered to make essential decisions vital for economic recovery."
- Question mark over election date -
There has been speculation for months that there could be a delay to elections as the establishment grapples to stabilise the country, which is facing overlapping security, economic and political crises.
Data from the latest 7th Digital Census carried out in May was finally published at the weekend and the government says the election commission needs time to redraw constituency boundaries -- a sore point for several political parties.
Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, told AFP that any delay could give time to the main coalition partners, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), to figure out how to address the challenge of PTI.
"But in reality, delaying the election could simply anger the public more and galvanize an opposition (led by Imran Khan)," he said.
- Takeaways from outgoing Assembly –
The 15th National Assembly of Pakistan, which started on August 13, 2018, will be dissolved today as a result of the general elections of July 25, 2018.
The 15th National Assembly elected a President, two Prime Ministers, two Speakers and two Deputy Speakers.
The most remarkable thing about the outgoing Assembly was that it removed prime minister Imran Khan from office through a no-confidence motion.
On August 18, 2018, when Imran Khan was elected as the prime minister, on the first day, the opposition strongly protested against the alleged rigging in the general elections. The relationship between then Leader of the House Imran Khan and Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif in the National Assembly always remained bitter.
In March 2022, out of 158 members in the National Assembly of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, 20 members defected from the party and formed a separate forward bloc.
On April 9, 2022, the no-confidence motion against then prime minister Imran Khan was successful, so the National Assembly elected Shehbaz Sharif as the new prime minister on April 11.
Asad Qaiser, speaker of the National Assembly, resigned from the post on April 9. Later, deputy speaker Qasim Suri also resigned from the post.
On April 15, 2022, the National Assembly elected Raja Pervaiz Ashraf as the new speaker, on April 20, Zahid Durrani was elected as the deputy speaker.
On April 11, 2022, 125 members of the PTI, including Imran Khan, announced their resignation from the National Assembly. After PTI members’ resignations from the assemblies, the 20-member forward block of PTI decided to sit in the opposition and elected Raja Riaz as the leader of the opposition.
The assembly failed to pass much legislation in the first four and a half years, but during the Shahbaz Sharif government, the National Assembly also established legislative records by passing a number of bills.
Reporter Awais Kiyani and input from agencies