The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has made the decision to start their “Election Karao Mulk Bachao” campaign nationwide on December 7 in an effort to increase pressure on the coalition government to call for early elections.
The event occurred at a gathering of Lahore-based PTI parliamentarians and office holders. Imran Khan, the party’s chairman, presided over the gathering on Monday at his home in Zaman Park.
Lahore will host a number of large rallies and public events during the first phase of the nationwide campaign, which runs from December 7 to December 17.
On December 7, a rally will serve as the official launch of the campaign in Hammad Azhar’s district in the province capital.
The Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assemblies were also discussed at the meeting (KP).
The meeting also decided that the coalition government will be criticised during the rallies for the worsening economic situation, rising inflation, and human rights abuses.
PTI demands elections in March
Imran Khan expressed on December 4 his willingness to prevent the dissolution of the Punjab and KP assemblies in exchange for the present administration’s agreement to hold elections by the end of March in 2019.
“If they are ready for elections by the end of March, then we won’t dissolve the assemblies. Otherwise, we want to conduct polls by dissolving the KP and Punjab assemblies,” Khan said in an interview with a private news channel.
He added that his party won’t agree on a date after March and assemblies will be dissolved this month [December] if the government disagrees.
“How long will they take to decide? They either have to say yes or no. We have already decided,” the former premier said underlining his conditional stance on talks with the government on the election date.
“If they [government] want, we can talk to them about what date the elections can be held. There is no way elections can take place after the budget,” he said, adding that the government will take the country down this way.
“Do they want polls to take place in 66% of the country and then conduct general elections?” Khan questioned.
