ANP sees 'unprecedented uncertainty' prevailing in country ahead of elections

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) Central Senior Vice President Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Tuesday said the kind of uncertainty prevailing in the country ahead of the general elections was never seen before.

His statement came a day after Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman expressed similar fears. Fazl said he did not foresee the February 8 elections happening as the country’s security situation was not good for polls.

The JUI’F chief's convoy came under attack from multiple sides at Yarik interchange in Dera Ismail Khan on December 31, fortunately, the veteran politician was not present in the convoy. He said that it wasn’t the right time for the polls.

Talking to Geo News in Peshawar today, the ANP leader predicted that no single party would make government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or the Centre. Coalition governments would be formed instead, he added.

Hoti said his party would decide about forging an alliance with political parties in the general elections by January 13. To a query, he said the ANP could enter into an alliance with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) if democracy was the focus of the party's agenda.

“The PTI should tell on what agenda it wants to make an alliance with us. We cannot support the May 9 agenda,” the ANP leader said pointing towards the violent incidents of May 9, 2023, that unfolded following the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan in a corruption case.

Citing the PTI's consistent demand for a level-playing field, he said they were not even provided a field in the general elections of 2013 and 2018. All the favours were extended to the PTI in those elections, he maintained.

He said the convicts and accused should not be allowed to participate in elections.

On December 26, Hoti had expressed fears that snatching of his party's electoral symbol was also being pondered in a balancing act to prove another judgment right.