ELECTION DATE QUESTION MARK
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 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 Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
“But in reality, delaying the election could simply anger the public more and galvanise an opposition that has already suffered through months of crackdowns,” he said.
The United States said Wednesday it was watching with concern the prospect of election violence.
“We’re obviously concerned about any actions – particularly violent actions – that can contribute to instability in Pakistan or, frankly, any other country with whom we share a set of common interests when it comes to counterterrorism,” said John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
Behind any election in Pakistan lurks the military, which has staged at least three successful coups since the country was forged from the partition of India in 1947.
Khan enjoyed genuine widespread support when he came to power in 2018 but analysts say it was only with the blessing of Pakistan’s powerful generals – with whom he reportedly fell out in the months before his ousting.
He later waged a risky campaign of defiance, accusing the military of meddling in politics and even naming an intelligence officer as being behind a November assassination attempt in which Khan was shot in the leg.
He heaped pressure on the government to hold early elections by staging mass rallies and pulling his MPs from parliament but his gambit ultimately failed.
Source: CNA
