Today (Wednesday) is likely to be the last day of the coalition government as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to write a letter to President Arif Alvi to dissolve the National Assembly.
The government will dissolve the lower house of parliament before its statutory term (which ends on August 12) as it seeks to extend the time for elections – which is constitutionally 90 days if an assembly is dissolved before Time dissolves.
Under Article 58 of the Constitution, the Prime Minister is obliged to advise the President, who then approves it, and if he does not do so, the Assembly is dissolved within 48 hours.
The article states that “the President shall dissolve the National Assembly if it is on the advice of the Prime Minister; And the National Assembly shall, unless sooner dissolved, be dissolved forty-eight hours after the advice of the Prime Minister,” the article reads.
While giving an interview to a television channel on Tuesday, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that no name has been shortlisted for caretaker prime minister and a collective decision will be taken in this regard.
The Prime Minister said that the coalition government will take the shortlisted names to the opposition leader after taking a collective decision in consultation with Nawaz Sharif.
To a question whether the caretaker prime minister could be from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), he said that whoever is nominated should be acceptable to all.
The Prime Minister will meet Opposition Leader Raja Riaz in the National Assembly today at 4 pm.
The elections, which were expected to be held within 90 days, have now been held in February or March next year.
The delay in the elections was confirmed after the Council of Common Interests (CCI) last week approved the 2023 census “unanimously”.
Under the constitution, elections are held based on the latest census, and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is obliged to start the delimitation process – which takes about four months.
