PTI announces dissolution of party posts

First phase of intra-party elections to be held from June 17 to June 19

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday announced the dissolution of all positions within the party structure – including those of chairman, central office holders, and members of all committees – to pave the way for its upcoming intra-party polls, whose first phase is to be held from June 17 to 19.

A notification issued by the office of the party’s chief election commissioner, Senator Azam Swati, says: “All office-bearers at all tiers, holding all offices within the PTI are hereby dissolved with immediate effect till the announcement of results of party elections.” The election results will be announced on June 20.

Recently, the PTI approved some drastic amendments to its constitution to pave the way for the first phase of the intra-party polls. The amendments, approved by the party’s Central Executive Committee in May, provide for holding polls on the basis of direct representation rather indirect elections.



In 2012, the PTI held its intra-party elections on the basis of indirect representation where registered party members first elected their representatives, who subsequently voted to choose the top leaders.

Another amendment calls for abolishing the requirement of holding elections to all posts simultaneously. The polls would now be held in a phased manner.

In the first phase, more than 2.3 million registered party members would directly vote on June 17 via their cellphones to fill top 13 positions, including those of chairman, vice-chairman, secretary-general, four regional presidents from Punjab, four from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one each from Balochistan and Sindh.

“All members registered till June 10 on insaf.pk will be allowed to vote,” the notification added.



Through another amendment, powers for the party chief have been enhanced. The chief is now empowered to form a party election commission and appoint chief election commissioner. Also, the chairman’s office would have the mandate to notify returned candidates.

“The [party] chairman has been given additional powers because currently, there are no elected bodies in the PTI,” PTI MNA Asad Umar told The Express Tribune.

He said the party had adopted direct method of intra-party elections as there was a strong demand for it within the party and “above all it’s a more democratic and transparent way” of holding elections.



Some PTI leaders, however, believe these amendments would effectively convert the party’s upcoming intra-party elections into a ceremonial exercise, matching those of other mainstream political parties just to meet the criteria set by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Due to delay in the intra-party elections, the ECP has refused to allot ‘bat’, the PTI’s election symbol, to its candidates who contested recent bye-elections in various provincial constituencies.

According to the ECP rules, every political party is bound to hold intra-party elections after every four years. The last intra-party elections in the PTI were held in 2012.