Pakistan will hold the election for its National Assembly this Thursday (8), which will define who will be the country's prime minister until 2029, in the midst of a serious institutional crisis and political violence.
This Wednesday (7), at least 26 people died and another 54 were injured in three attacks on the offices of several leaders and political candidates, in two of Pakistan's most conflict-ridden provinces, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Earlier this week, at least ten police officers were killed and six others were injured in an insurgent attack on a security forces center in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The institutional crisis in Pakistan has been going on since 2022, when then-Prime Minister Imran Khan, winner in the 2018 election, was removed from office by a motion of no confidence in Parliament in April of that year.
Imprisoned since August 2022, Khan was sentenced to three years in prison a year later, accused of misusing his position as prime minister to buy and sell state-held gifts received during diplomatic visits abroad.
Although that conviction was suspended by an appeals court, he remained in prison on other charges.
Last week, the former prime minister was the target of three more convictions in court: he and his wife, Bushra Bibi, received a sentence of seven years in prison for fraudulent marriage (she would not have respected the period that a woman must wait after marriage). dissolution of her marriage or upon the death of her husband, in accordance with Islamic law); another 14 years in prison for corruption, for not declaring the money obtained from the sale of gifts received during his mandate; and another ten years for the disclosure of private conversations considered state secrets.
Khan and his supporters claim the cases against him are politically motivated. Supporters of the former prime minister held violent protests last year, including against army installations, which they accuse of being responsible for Khan's ouster in 2022.
His party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), had the use of its symbol (a cricket bat – Khan was a successful athlete in this sport) vetoed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Furthermore, several members of the party were arrested, prevented from running by the courts or forced to contest the election as independent candidates.
With Khan out of the race, analysts project that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), is the favorite to return to the position, which he held for three periods in the decades 1990 and 2010 (not consecutively).
Sharif recently returned to Pakistan after a four-year self-imposed exile in London and was freed by the courts from convictions that prevented him from participating in political life.
The economic crisis and the presence of terrorist groups also contribute to institutional instability in Pakistan, amplified by reports of attempted electoral fraud.
However, in an interview with CNN, Farzana Shaikh, a member of the Asia-Pacific program at the British think tank Royal Institute of International Affairs, highlighted that the Pakistani population is “desperate for normalization”.
“As unhappy as the Pakistani people may be, they are also desperate for some stability after months of chaos,” she said. “Then, out of resignation, they will accept the results.” (With EFE Agency)
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