Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on Saturday announced that the party will not participate in the upcoming General Elections.
Flanked by party officials in a press conference in Lahore, he said that the PAT had decided not to contest the elections because "the entire system" was "flawed and could not be called a democracy".
Dr Qadri said that the PAT will not become a part of the electoral process and would not be issuing tickets to any candidates.
On being asked, he clarified that he had deliberately never used the word 'boycott' and was only saying that PAT would not participate in the process as a political party.
"Neither electoral reforms were made nor any seriousness shown in the accountability process. We cannot be part of an election which does not have anything good for the people," he later said in a message on Twitter.
He also appeared irked by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's (PTI) decision to give tickets to 'electables'. Without naming the party's chief Imran Khan, he said that the statement on electables as being essential for elections went against PTI's slogan of change.
