Current Pakistan Govt’s Tenure to End on Aug 14; General Election on Schedule, Says PM Shehbaz Sharif – News18

The tenure of Pakistan’s current government will end on August 14 and the Election Commission will announce the date for the next general election, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif assured the nation on Wednesday.

Sharif’s remarks came a day after his meeting with the chief of the ruling alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the Dawn newspaper reported.

During the meeting, the PDM chief stressed the need for the dissolution of assemblies and the holding of general elections on time, it said.

Addressing an event, Sharif, the President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, said the tenure of the government headed by him will end on August 14 and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will then announce the dates for the next general election.

Whoever forms the next government should make education the top priority to make Pakistan great, Sharif was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune newspaper.

Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in as the Prime Minister in April last year after the then-premier Imran Khan was ousted through a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: Chairman Khan has been demanding early national elections since his ouster.

Last week, Khan sought a ”guarantee” from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the general elections in the country will be held at the scheduled time.

Ahead of the IMF executive board meeting to review and possibly endorse the Standby Arrangement (SBA) for Pakistan on Wednesday, a delegation of the global lender met Khan last week in Lahore to seek assurance and support for the key objectives and policies under the recently announced USD 3 billion bailout programme.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)