PAKISTAN Two provincial assemblies dissolved, Imran Khan again calls for early elections

These are the local governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkwa. After the failure of the street protests, the former prime minister changed his strategy to return to power. Prime Minister Sharif accuses him of creating chaos as the country grapples with the economic crisis. Some fear that the political paralysis will lead to the return of the army.

Islamabad () – After the dissolution of the Punjab provincial assembly, yesterday that of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was also dissolved: a measure that is part of the attempts of the former prime minister and opposition leader, Imran Khan, to bring forward the elections Nationals, scheduled for October.

The governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ghulam Ali, declared that he had “no choice” but to accept the resignation presented by members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pti) party of which Imran Khan is leader. The party was also in power in the eastern Punjab province, where local leader Pervez Elahi decreed the dissolution of the Assembly four days ago.

The country’s laws stipulate that, once the provincial government is dissolved, elections must be held within 90 days, but it is also common for them to be held in conjunction with national elections. Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two of the four provinces that make up Pakistan, are home to more than half of the country’s 220 million people.

Imran Khan, 70, a former cricket star, has been calling for early elections since April last year. After losing the support of the army that had led to his rise, parliament voted against confidence in his government and chose Shehbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) as the new prime minister. In recent months, Khan had organized repeated protest marches to oppose the current executive. In November, after being shot in the leg, he decided to change his strategy, but continued to agitate national politics.

Indeed, Prime Minister Sharif has accused Khan of merely wanting to create chaos, while the country’s economic situation appears increasingly precarious. In recent days, Sharif and army chief Asim Munir have coaxed the Gulf monarchies – Pakistan’s longtime allies – to renew loans after the central bank’s foreign reserves fell to $4.3bn, the most low since 2014. The UN conference on climate change also approved a loan of 10,000 million dollars to deal with the aftermath of the floods in August, but at the moment it is not clear if the disbursement of the funds will also include the resumption of the reform program envisaged by the International Monetary Fund. Meanwhile, the lending institution has forecast Pakistan’s foreign debt to rise to $138 billion by June this year.

Some analysts fear that the political stagnation, coupled with the worsening economic situation, could signal the return of the army, already the protagonist of several coups.