Pakistan Dissolves Parliament as Government Grapples With Political Instability

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s prime minister dissolved Parliament, in a move that will give the country’s government more time to hold the next election.

The country has been rocked by political and economic instability. Earlier this month, opposition leader Imran Khan was imprisoned and banned from running for office for five years. Thousands of his supporters have been detained in recent months, while the media and human-rights groups have also come under pressure.

Wednesday’s move was expected because Pakistan’s Parliament is at the end of its five-year term. By doing it three days earlier than the term was due to end, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif gave the caretaker administration that will now run Pakistan an extra month in office under the country’s constitution.

Khan was elected in 2018 for a five-year term. He was ousted less than four years into that five-year term, through a vote of no-confidence in Parliament. For the rest of the remaining 16 months of the parliamentary term, Sharif was prime minister.  

“The last 16 months were the hardest exam I have faced in my life,” Sharif told Parliament.

Sharif inherited an economy heading into crisis, which worsened after he broke with a bailout deal from the International Monetary Fund. The IMF had demanded tough economic measures that were unpopular with voters. Some economic stability has been regained since the country re-entered the IMF program in June.

The treatment of Khan and his party has raised questions over how fair any election will be. Khan was convicted in a corruption case on Aug. 5 and sentenced to three years in jail. He has protested his prosecution, saying that the case and dozens of others registered against him are meant to take him out of politics.

Khan was ousted as prime minister after he fell out with the country’s powerful military, which then put its weight behind his political adversaries. Sharif’s government says that the conviction of Khan is unrelated to the election, and he is just being punished for breaking the law when he was in office.

Although the caretaker government has 90 days to hold fresh elections under Pakistan’s constitution, Sharif signaled that the caretaker government could be in charge for longer. That is because Sharif’s coalition government decided that the coming election must be held on the basis of a new population census conducted this year. That means the redrawing of constituency boundaries, which could take several more months.  

Sharif’s political opponents say that the extra time is needed to try to quash the remaining support Khan enjoys among voters. Sharif’s government said that the delay is necessary because the constitution requires that the new census be used.

The Election Commission of Pakistan, an independent organization, hasn’t announced the date of the next election. A caretaker prime minister hasn’t been named, but that is expected to happen within days.

Write to Saeed Shah at [email protected]