PESHAWAR: The Jamiat Ulema-iIslam-Fazl on Wednesday announced that it would boycott the elections for the offices of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa`s chief minister and the provincial assembly`s speaker and deputy speaker.

The house will elect its speaker and deputy speaker today (Thursday).

`We [JUI-F] have decided not to take part in the elections for the chief minister, speaker, and deputy speaker.

We are going to boycott this electoral exercise,` senior JUI-F leader and former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani told reporters after the oath-taking ceremony for MPAs.

Mr Durrani said that the JUI-F informed the other opposition parties in the provincial assembly in a meeting on Wednesday about its intention to boycott elections.

He said that his party had the majority of seats in the Balochistan Assembly and could even install its own chief minister in the province, butit preferred to sit on the opposition benches.

The JUI-F leader said that his party turned down a PML-N proposal to join the federal government and would continue to raise voice against election `rigging` on the floor of the house as well as in street protests.

He said that political parties were holding demonstrations against poll `rigging` across the country, and even it was protested by the PTI, which won polls in KP.

`Religious forces are on the streets across the country [against polling rigging], while nationalist parties are staging protests in Sindh and Balochistan. The Awami National Party is also protesting in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where our party is set to announce its protest schedule,` he said.

Mr Durrani said that his party was in contact with others with requests to join protests.

He complained about violence on election day and alleged that voters were taken away at gunpoint and ballot boxes were stuffed with bogus votes.