A timeline of key events leading up to election
July 25, 2018 — Pakistanis vote for a new government in an election marred by violence and allegations of fraud.
July 26, 2018 — Former cricket star Imran Khan wins the polls but has to seek out allies to form a coalition. A few weeks later, lawmakers elect him as the country’s prime minister.
April 9, 2022 — Pakistan’s political opposition topples Imran Khan in a no-confidence vote in parliament.
November 3, 2022 — Imran Khan is wounded in a shooting at a rally in the eastern city of Lahore, an attack his party calls an assassination attempt.
November 29, 2022 — The new army chief Gen. Asim Munir takes charge of the military, replacing Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, who retired from the post after a six-year term.
May 9, 2023 — Imran Khan is arrested and dragged from court where he arrived to face charges in multiple graft cases. His detention sparks days of violent demonstrations by angry supporters.
August 5, 2023 — Imran Khan is sentenced to three years in prison after a court convicted him of corruption.
August 9, 2023 — Pakistan’s president dissolves the National Assembly, a first step in the countdown to the upcoming general election.
October 21, 2023 — Threetime Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan after four years in self-imposed exile abroad.
November 2, 2023 — Pakistan’s election oversight body postpones parliamentary elections for a second time.
January 8, 2024 — The Supreme Court scraps a lifetime ban on politicians with criminal convictions from contesting elections.
January 30 — Imran Khan is sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of leaking state secrets.
January 31 — Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, are sentenced to 14-year terms for corruption on charges of retaining and selling state gifts in violation of government rules when he was in power.
February 3 — Khan and his wife are sentenced to seven years on charges they violated the country’s marriage law when they wed in 2018. It’s the fourth sentence so far for Khan and the second for his wife.
February 7 — A pair of powerful bombings at election offices in Baluchistan kill at least 29 people and wound more than two dozen others on the eve of elections.