Pak parliament to dissolve for polls

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will have a new interim government in days after parliament concluded its last session late on Wednesday, with an upcoming election that will not include the country's most popular politician, Imran Khan

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The country has been in political turmoil since the former international cricket star was booted from power in April last year, culminating in his being jailed for graft at the weekend following a months-long crackdown on his party.

"In the past 16 months, our government tried its best to improve the situation and served the nation with full conviction," outgoing prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said in his last address to the cabinet.

"This country can't progress until we have national unity," he said.

The new interim prime minister must be announced within three days of parliament's formal dissolution by the president, and elections held within 90 days but the outgoing government has already warned they are likely to be delayed.

The unlikely coalition between Pakistan's usually feuding dynastic parties which came together to kick out Khan - has won little popular support while at the helm of the world's fifth-most populous country.