SIALKOT, Pakistan: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Sunday announced that his government will leave before completing its tenure, clearing uncertainty surrounding the tenure of the incumbent National Assembly.
“Our government will complete its tenure next month. We will leave before the completion of our tenure and an interim government will take over,” he said while addressing a laptop distribution ceremony at the Government College Women’s University in Sialkot.
The statement is contrary to what the prime minister had said a few days back about his government when he had hinted that his government would complete its term. He had said that the coalition government’s tenure will end on August 14 and the date for the next polls will be announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan to be held either in October or November. The premier’s earlier statement suggested that the ruling alliance was not contemplating dissolving the National Assembly before its expiry date which is August 14 this year.
It is to mention here that the general elections take place after 60 days when National Assembly completes its constitutional tenure. However, if the lower house of the parliament is dissolved before its constitutional term ends, then the polling date can be extended to 90 days of the dissolution.
According to the political observers, the ruling alliance is foreseeing PTI going down with each passing day and that is why it wants to take the elections as far as possible under the constitution though it didn’t obey a Supreme Court order to hold elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces on May 14.
While addressing the ceremony, the PM said that the decrease in the price of petroleum products, announced a day earlier, was due to the agreement with the IMF. The IMF agreement, he said, strengthened the rupee against the dollar which in turn made the purchase of oil cheaper.
