ISLAMABAD: Incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan will run for chancellor of Oxford University from his prison cell through an online balloting, The Telegraph reported, citing his team.
PTI founder Imran Khan, along with Former prime ministers of the United Kingdom Sir Tony Blair and Boris Johnson will run for the Oxford University chancellor seat.
The chancellor seat is vacant following the resignation of Lord Patten, 80, the former governor of Hong Kong and Tory Party chairman, who held the post for 21 years.
According to the details, elections for the chancellor will held online for the first time compared to the traditional way in which graduates attend the balloting process in full academic dress. The prestigious Oxford University chancellorship goes to graduates of the university, usually politicians.
“Imran Khan will contest for the chancellor of Oxford University as there is a public demand that he should contest,” Khan’s advisor on international media Syed Zulfi Bukhari told The Telegraph. “We will announce it publicly once we get a go-ahead from Khan and start the signature campaign for it,” Mr Bukhari said.
Imran Khan studied Economics and Politics at Keble College, Oxford in 1972 and also captained the cricket team of Oxford University. Later, he made a Test debut for Pakistan in 1971. This is not the first time Khan is running for chancellorship of England’s university as he remained the chancellor of Bradford University from 2005 to 2014.
On Tuesday, more than two dozen members of Parliament called for Imran Khan’s immediate release during a hearing in the House of Lords Committee Room, discussing the erosion of democratic norms in Pakistan and the “illegal incarceration” of the former prime minister.