Pakistan's opposition, ruling coalition fail to agree on holding general elections; agree to meet again next week

Pakistan’s opposition party and the ruling coalition led by PML-N on Friday failed to make a breakthrough on holding general elections but exchanged proposals and agreed to meet again on Tuesday to end the political uncertainty plaguing the cash-strapped country.

The second round of talks was held in the backdrop of the controversy with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seeking early polls — particularly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where assemblies were dissolved in January — and the government maintaining that elections across the country be held on the same day in October.

The government side included Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Azam Nazeer Tarar, and Sardar Ayaz Sadiq from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). They were joined by Yusuf Raza Gilani and Syed Naveed Qamar from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as well as other parties in the coalition government.

The PTI, which is the main opposition party, fielded its Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry, and Senator Ali Zafar for talks.

Also read: Pakistan hikes drug prices by 20%, manufacturers want more

The talks were held in the Parliament House, a neutral venue acceptable to the two sides.

The first round was held on Thursday which went on for two hours and the rivals decided to meet again after consulting their party heads.

At the end of the second round, Dar said each side had tabled two proposals, which would be presented to the respective leadership.

“Some progress was made today,” he said, adding that the “final round” of talks would resume on Tuesday at 11 am.

The issue of elections has rocked Pakistani politics as ousted prime minister Imran Khan demanded snap polls when he lost the no-confidence motion in April last year.

As he failed to get his goal through protest, 70-year-old Khan dissolved the assemblies in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in January by using his party’s governments in the two provinces.

He wanted to put pressure on as by the law, elections should be held within 90 days of the dissolution of an assembly.

However, the government used delaying tactics by citing a lack of funds and a rise in terrorism to set a date for polls in the two provinces while pushing the narrative that elections should be held on the same day in the country after the completion of the term of the National Assembly in August.

The problems began when the issue landed in the Supreme Court which after a hearing ordered that elections be held in Punjab on May 14 and the government provide Rs 21 billion for polling to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

It had set April 27 as the last date for the provision of funds.

The cash-strapped government has not provided the funds and openly announced to defy the order to hold the elections on May 14.

The talks began when the apex court indicated that it was ready to show flexibility on the election date if the political parties agreed on a consensus to hold elections in the entire country on the same date.

Separately, cricketer-turned-politician Khan said in a conversation with the media in the Islamabad high court, where he appeared for a bail hearing, that the purpose of talks was to convince the government to immediately dissolve the assemblies and hold elections.

“There’s no need to proceed if they (govt side) insist on holding polls in September or October,” he said.

Fawad Chaudhry sounded more optimistic in a tweet when he said that the main objective of the negotiations was to recognise that people were the centre of power.

“Yesterday, talks were held in a pleasant environment,” he tweeted. “Today, we should move forward for the country by understanding each other’s point of view.”

However, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif sounded less optimistic about the outcome of the talks and termed the exercise as a waste of time.

However, he termed it as his personal opinion and announced to stand by the collective decision of the party.

He also said, “Elections will be held on one day in October”.

The National Assembly will complete its five-year term in August this year. According to the Constitution, elections shall be held within 90 days after the dissolution of the lower house. This means that the election must be held by mid-October. The last general election was held in July 2018.