Pakistan: Imran Khan's PTI Nominates Party General Secretary Omar Ayub as PM Candidate

Speaking to the media, Asad Qaiser said that party secretary general Omar Ayub would be the party’s candidate for the prime minister’s slot. (Reuters File Photo)

The Pakistan Tehreek-Insaaf (PTI) party run by former Prime Minister Imran Khan has nominated party general secretary Omar Ayub as its candidate for prime minister, one of the party leaders announced on Thursday.

Independent candidates backed by jailed former PM won 92 seats in last week’s election, making them the largest group. However, they cannot form a government on their own, having run as individuals and not a party.

Speaking to the media, PTI leader Asad Qaiser said that Omar Ayub would be the party’s candidate for the prime minister’s slot, the Dawn newspaper reported. Qaiser announced the decision after speaking with the PTI founder at Adiala Jail. He further said that Imran would give a date later today for a countrywide protest campaign against alleged rigging in the Feb 8 polls, the newspaper said.

Qaiser further said he had been given an “assignment” to engage with all political parties protesting against the poll results. “We want that we all form a strategy because the mandate was stolen — this was the worst and most rigged election in our history,” he said, adding that polls lacked “credibility”.

Last week’s split-verdict national election delivered a surprise boon for independent candidates loyal to Imran, defying an army-backed crackdown with a combined showing larger than any other party. However, late Tuesday the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), favoured by the top brass, said it would partner with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and some smaller parties to form the next government.

PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, foreign minister in the 2022-23 government, said this time his party won’t take ministerial roles and will back the prime minister “on an issue-to-issue basis”. There is still a lot of negotiating to go, however, including a likely return to the presidency for his father, Asif Ali Zardari.

(With agency inputs)