A recent media report suggests that Pakistan's election commission is contemplating setting January 28 as the date for the next general election. According to sources, the electoral body is expected to inform the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) about its preparations for the upcoming elections within the next two days, indicating the possibility of January 28, 2024, as the election date.
This development follows a request from the Supreme Court for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to provide its response regarding the timing of the elections. The ECP's statement came in response to concerns raised by President Arif Alvi about the election schedule in the financially strained nation. In an interview with a news channel, President Alvi expressed skepticism about the possibility of holding elections in January next year and disclosed that he had made various efforts, including writing letters to the ECP, to address this issue.
The ECP's statement provided additional details, stating that the first phase of delimitation has already been completed, and the second phase, involving objections, is set to conclude soon. The ECP will begin hearing objections regarding the preliminary delimitation on October 30 and 31, with the final list to be published by November 30.
It is worth noting that before becoming Pakistan's President, Arif Alvi was a founding member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), a political party founded by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is currently incarcerated.
While the ECP had previously announced that the elections would take place in the last week of January, it refrained from providing an exact date despite calls from various political parties. The 90-day deadline for conducting elections following the dissolution of the National Assembly is set to expire on November 7. Despite this deadline, the ECP decided to carry out a delimitation exercise in light of the national census conducted in March and April of the current year.
According to the Constitution, elections must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the assembly, which falls on November 7 in this case. The ECP argued that it was constitutionally obliged to redefine electoral boundaries due to the approval of the census by the Council of Common Interest (CCI).
Many political analysts in Pakistan have voiced concerns about the possibility of election delays beyond January, with some pointing out that no political party appears to be in "election mode." Additionally, some have raised concerns about the impact of harsh winter weather on the electoral process.
Pakistan, grappling with a severe economic crisis, has been shrouded in political uncertainty since the removal of the Imran Khan government through a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly in April 2022.
