By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election commission said on Thursday that it would hold general elections in the last week of January 2024, more than two months after the constitutional deadline, citing the need to redraw electoral boundaries based on the latest census.
The announcement ended weeks of speculation and uncertainty over the timing of the polls, which will be a crucial test for the country’s fragile democracy and its struggling economy.
A caretaker government has been running the country since August, when the parliament was dissolved.
The election commission said it had to delay the polls because it needed more time to complete the delimitation process, which involves dividing the country into constituencies based on population size and other factors.
“The final list of constituencies will be published on Nov. 30,” the commission said in a statement. “After that, the elections will be held in the last week of January 2024, after a 54-day election program.”
The commission did not specify an exact date for the elections, saying it would announce it later.
According to the Constitution, elections must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the parliament, which happened on Aug. 10. That means the deadline for holding elections is Nov. 7.
But a law passed in 2017 states that the commission must delimit constituencies after every census is officially published. The last census was conducted in early this year, and its results were only notified in August, after months of political wrangling and legal challenges.
The commission said it had consulted with political parties and other stakeholders before deciding to delay the elections.
It said it had shared a draft code of conduct for the elections with the parties and sought their feedback.
The code prohibits parties and candidates from propagating any opinion or act that is prejudicial to the ideology, sovereignty, integrity, security, morality or public order of Pakistan, or that defames or ridicules any government institution, including the judiciary and the armed forces.
The commission also asked provincial authorities to ensure adequate security and logistical arrangements for the elections.
Political analysts said the delay could benefit some parties and hurt others, depending on how they use the extra time to mobilise their supporters and woo undecided voters.
“The announcement of a date is a positive and significant sign; however Pakistani politics is so unstable that one can’t predict what will happen after three months,” Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political analyst based in Lahore, said in an interview to a private TV.
“But all the sufferings of the common people due to inflation and price hikes will have a direct bearing — provided all parties are allowed to campaign and contest elections,” he added.
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