PTI’s Sohail Afridi wins KP CM election amid opposition’s walkout

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sohail Afridi replaced Ali Amin Gandpur as the new chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after party-backed lawmakers voted in his favor amid an opposition boycott.

Afridi secured 90 votes, while Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JoI-F) Maulana Lutfur Rehman, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Siddar Shahjahan Yousuf and Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Arbab Zarak Khan did not.

The assembly session chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati was boycotted by opposition members who walked out with Leader of the Opposition Dr Abdullah Khan saying they did not want to be part of any “illegal” process.

The election of the new KPCM has been mired in controversy, with Governor Faisal Karim Kundi rejecting the resignation of former Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandpur, citing objections to the authenticity of the signature.

Gandapur resigned from the key office last week on the instructions of PTI founder Imran Khan who was jailed on October 8.

The nomination of Afridi, a young PTI leader who started his political career in 2015 and was elected as an MPA in the 2024 general elections, has drawn a strong response from the federal government, which has accused the PTI of having a soft corner for terrorists.

Review of Afghan Policy

Speaking on the Assembly floor, newly elected Chief Minister Afridi touched on the issue of terrorism pressure as KP has faced a lack of incidents along Balochistan, and said that where there is terrorism, the solution is to take the elders of the area into confidence.

“Where you are saying there is terrorism, take local representatives, parliamentarians, people and elders into confidence.”

“Afghan policy has to be reviewed,” he said.

The CM-elect’s statement has to be taken in the context of the difference of opinion between the KP and the federal government on policy issues related to Afghanistan.

Although the Center has adopted a strict policy of expelling illegal and undocumented Afghan refugees living in stages, the outgoing CM Gandpur along with the KP government refused to forcibly evict them.

The country has been hosting millions of Afghans for nearly five decades. Hundreds of thousands of them returned to their country in the last few years, but still around 2 million are living in KP and other provinces.

Apart from the refugee issue, terrorism is another bone of contention between the province and the Center with the outgoing chief minister vowing not to allow any military operations in the province. The provincial government has also called for dialogue to resolve the issue instead of physical force.

Pakistan has repeatedly called on the Afghan Taliban-led administration in Kabul to protect its territory from being used by terrorists.

Relations between the two neighbors have recently soured after Taliban forces and India-backed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) launched unprovoked attacks along the Pak-Afghan border.

Pakistani forces, acting in self-defense, killed more than 200 Afghan Taliban and associated terrorists, while 23 soldiers accepted martyrdom.

Release of Imran

Lamenting that “a mindset” mocked the tribal people when his name was nominated for the chief minister’s office, Afridi recalled his political career and journey.

“I did not become Chief Minister through ‘Parchi’ [chit]. I belong to a middle class family from tribal districts. Afidi thanked PTI founder Imran and said that neither my father, nor my brother, nor my relatives are politicians. “

Stating that the tribal population is happy with the decision of KPK CM to nominate and elect him, he said that a campaign has been launched against him.

Praising the outgoing chief minister Gandpur for exiting office gracefully, Afridi touched on the issue of PTI founder’s imprisonment and remarked that he would start taking steps in this regard today.

“I am a champion of confrontational politics,” remarked the newly elected CM, adding that he had “nothing to lose”.

“I have no cars, no bungalow, no money, no lust for a chair [of CM]. The day the leader says no chair, I will kick it. “

The young politician further warned that if the PTI founder was transferred from Adiala Jail without consulting his family and the party, he would paralyze the entire country in protest.

“No one should think that I have come to this position and will deviate from it [Imran’s] theory,” he said.

February 8 election investigation

Further, reiterating the party’s stand on the alleged rigging of the February 8, 2024 general elections, Afridi announced to launch an inquiry into how his constituencies were stolen from him.

The announcement echoes claims of alleged voter fraud and result manipulation by the former ruling party in last year’s elections.

Earlier this month, the Commonwealth released its long-awaited election report, in which it said voters’ “fundamental political rights” were curtailed during the election.

The report, released more than 18 months after the election, flagged the shutdown of mobile phone services on election night, saying it “reduced the transparency of the process and affected the efficiency of delivering results”.

“Critically, the lack of digitally transmitted results has increased opportunities for manipulation of Forms 45, 46 and 47,” read the 161-page report.

The Observer Group added that it “surveyed a wide range of documents which showed that, in some cases, copies of Forms 45 kept by party agents were different from those used in the tabulation of results which were later published on the ECP website, altering vote totals and turnout figures”.

The report said: “We noted with concern several factors in the pre-election period that significantly affected the level playing field, most notably the de-allocation of the Bat symbol to the PTI and the inclusion of PTI candidates in the registration of independent candidates”.

Speaker’s decision on Gandpur’s resignation

Dealing with the dispute over the legality of Gandpur’s resignation,

KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, in his judgment, termed the objections raised by Governor Kandy as “unconstitutional”.

The Speaker said that Gandapur tendered his resignation under clause 8 of Article 130 of the 1973 Constitution.

“Gandpur sent two resignations to the governor on October 8 and again on October 11. Both resignations were signed by Gandpur, and there is no difference between the signatures on the first and second resignations,” the speaker ruled.

Speaker Swati said all the requirements for Gandpur’s resignation were “in accordance with the constitution and law”, citing the court’s ruling in the Hafeez Hamdullah case.

“It is my responsibility to protect the constitution and the law.”

He said that some people do not want Sohail Afridi to be the chief minister, adding that constitutional affairs cannot be run “on the wishes of the people, but according to the constitution”.

‘Choices should be challenged’

Meanwhile, speaking to Geo News, the leader of the opposition Muslim League (N) in the KP Assembly, Dr Abdullah Syed said that the opposition will challenge Afridi’s election as the KP CM in the court tomorrow.

“We were thinking till yesterday that the resignation was accepted, that’s why the candidates submitted [nomination] Papers. “

The opposition leader noted, “The election of the chief minister is unconstitutional.

Speaking in the Assembly earlier, Dr Abdullah said that Gandpur’s resignation was not accepted and that one cannot be chosen for CM when someone has already held the post.

According to the constitution, he said, after accepting the resignations, the chief minister has to identify them through the cabinet.

“Why are you making CM’s election controversial? You [government] There is a majority [in the house] The choice for the Chief Minister can be made later [as well],” the opposition leader remarked.

Meanwhile, the KP Advocate General has decided to approach the Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court (PHC) on the issue of taking oath of the CM-elect.

Speaking to Geo News, KPG Shah Faisal Atmankhil said that he is writing a letter to the PHCCCJ as he can nominate anyone to administer the CM’s duties in the absence of the governor.