Google’s new Doodle reminds the people of Pakistan that the country is going to hold elections this year. Pakistan’s last elections were held in 2018 where former cricketer Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party secured a comfortable victory by winning 149 of the 342 seats in the National Assembly with a vote share of 31.82 percent.
However, the Imran Khan government was ousted from the government last year and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took over. Khan blamed the then army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and the US for plotting his ouster.
Pakistan’s next general election is scheduled to be held within 60 days of the current National Assembly’s term ending on August 13. If the National Assembly is dissolved earlier, elections must be held within 90 days of its dissolution. In Pakistan, provincial and national assembly elections are usually held simultaneously.
Google Doodle has a ballot box with a Pakistani flag in the middle, referring to elections in the Muslim-majority country later this year.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been calling for early elections in the country after the government argued that the ongoing economic and security crisis in the country made it difficult to hold any elections. Last month, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement and Imran Khan’s PTI to discuss and agree on election dates.
