Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Friday night announced that it will sit in opposition in the Centre and Punjab province as attempts to form the next government continue in the country, sources reported.
The decision was announced by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s barrister Ali Saif, a day after the party had named Umar Ayub Khan as its candidate for the prime minister and Aslam Iqbal as chief minister for Punjab.
Saif told the media that the party decided to sit in the opposition at the Centre and Punjab under the instructions of party founder Imran Khan, who is currently in jail.
“We decided to sit in opposition despite the reality that if we received seats according to our votes and the results were not changed then maybe today we might have been in the Centre with 180 seats. We have the evidence that our candidates won,” he was quoted as saying by sources.
In the elections held on February 8, Independent candidates – a majority of whom were backed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf – won 93 of the 265 National Assembly seats.
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N won 75 seats while Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) came third with 54 seats.
To form a government in Pakistan, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly.
Earlier in the day, the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf announced nationwide protests in the country against the “unprecedented, massive and brazen rigging” in the recent elections.
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