Pakistan Government rejects Jan’s call for early elections after his electoral success in Punjab

July 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The new coalition government of Pakistan has rejected on Tuesday the request of former Prime Minister Imran Jan to hold early elections, alleging the poor economic situation in the country, after his party won this weekend in the legislative elections of the province from Punjab.

“This government will complete its constitutional mandate,” the Minister of Railways, Khawaja Saad Rafique, underlined at a press conference after the meeting held on Tuesday in Lahore by the Democratic Movement of Pakistan (MDP), a coalition that managed in April to expel from the power to Jan through a motion of censure.

“The coalition government has the right to complete its mandate. The Federal Government will fulfill its mandate and work for the betterment of the country. There should be no doubt about this,” Rafique insisted, reports the newspaper ‘Dawn’.

Jan’s request comes two days after his party, the Pakistan Justice Movement (Tehreek and Insaf) won the elections in Punjab province, taking 15 of the 20 seats up for grabs.

For Rafique, these elections “are not at all a barometer of popularity for any party.” In turn, he has criticized Jan’s demands, since “it cannot be that Parliament makes a decision in the interest of the country and then gets rid of it”, referring to the motion of censure that expelled him from office.

It is expected that Pakistanis will go to the polls once the five-year mandate of the National Assembly is completed, that is, in August 2023. In this sense, Rafique has asked the population to avoid falling into speculation about the breach of the mandate. constitutional that the government has.

With the beginning of 2022, Pakistan became the scene of a strong political dispute between government and opposition such as had not been seen in years, with several turncoat scandals and massive demonstrations for and against Jan, whom the MDP described as ” puppet” of the Army, considered one of the most powerful establishments since independence from the British Raj in 1947.

In mid-April, Shehbaz Sharif –of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)– took office as prime minister, days after a no-confidence motion went ahead in Parliament against Jan, who is expected to now take advantage of the political uncertainty, amid rampant inflation and currency shortages, and ask your supporters to take to the streets.